Wilsons
by Justwantthisstoryfinished
Summary: This story been reuploaded multiple times b/c I can't stop deleting it, n' then getting back on it, so don't expect this story to be fascinating. Summary: Slade discovers his son is alive, and finds the child clone version of himself. Due to miseries of the past, Slade with his sidekick and Grant must enter his clone's mind to save him. Warning: unreal gay incests
1. Part 1: Identity

A/N: **I'm going to lay it straight that it will be weird and nontraditional so please no flames.**

 **DO NOT READ if you're against "incestuous relationships, puppy love, canons and chronological facts and logic being screwed over, etc."**

 **Chapter 1: Finding Grant**

Slade wasn't sure if this was a trap or if it was the real thing. His son was alive. _**Grant**_ was alive. After the fiasco with the Secret Society, he was anonymously contacted by someone who told him that his son was alive. Slade checked Grant's grave to find his body missing, so he had no choice but to believe in this rumor. The trouble though is that the client won't give the exact location of where his son was or who he/she was. They wanted him to destroy different cloning facilities, claiming that his son was taken as a test subject in one of them. They did give him multiple locations of where the cloning facilities were, so there was a lead to start with. Thus one after the other, he's been destroying them all around the world.

Multiple times he nearly lost his life but if his son was alive, he would do anything to get him back. No matter what the cost was.

Now he was located at New York City which wasn't a wise choice since Nightwing took charge of this place, but he was a minor problem right now. Nobody had discovered that he was responsible for blowing up all those other facilities. Of course, he had help.

"Wow, New York's winter feels warm compared to our last stop at Kazakhstan. Can't believe it's been almost half a year since the Secret Society stuff and now this." The teenager sighed. She had light brown skin, dark brown eyes, and black wavy hair cascaded down her back. Only a five foot with an hourglass figure, she wore a simple white t-shirt and jeans. "So after a hundred-fifty cloning facilities and a possible war that is bound to happen since a majority of them belongs to criminal and government agencies, I'm sure one hundred fifty one gotta be a lucky number, or I need to call the Lady Karma for the bingo numbers of clone facilities." She said with slight sarcasm.

It was the night time and the two were hanging on top of a building watching an Italian pizza shop. Slade said nothing. He was trying to channel his frustrated anger, so he wouldn't massacre everyone carelessly and repetitively scream, "WHERE IS MY SON?!"

The pizza shop's lights went out and the owner left the facility. The girl turned them into shadows, traveled into the pizza shop and disabled its security. They turned back to normal in the kitchen where they pressed a button against the wall, which activated an elevator to appear out of the floor.

 _"So once we go down there, how are we going to blow it up without taking half of New York City with it?"_ The girl asked telepathically.

 _"The caller sent blue prints on the facility. It's ceiling was made to be invincible against an explosion, only causing a minor earthquake."_ Slade responded calmly.

 _"The mystery person is still paying you right?"_ She asked to fill in a possible void of awkward silence.

 _"Anything I need. I ask, they provide. That's the deal."_ He responded short and quick.

 _"It was expensive getting to certain places. I've been trying to think of a reason they want these places blown up but nothing comes to mind."_

 _"Camouflage, most of the cloning facilities we abolished housed super humans, aliens and other unknown entities. We're possibly saving the world or helping our client get rid of the competition."_

 _"I got that part but,"_ The elevator revealed itself. Camouflage turned themselves invisible for the elevator camera. The two entered pressing the button for the basement. _"But why you? I know you're incredible and all, but there's suckers out there who'd do the job without the gall to kill them out of spite for this fiasco. Plus, they could've gotten someone for free. Placing billions of dollars including their lives, that will possibly be put in your mercy, doesn't make sense."_

 _"It'll all make sense eventually. Whoever is putting me through this will suffer the consequences but for now, it's another day to get my son back."_

The elevator door opened, and they were greeted by a room filled with hundreds of rooms that they figured was housing the cloned experiments or such. Camouflage sensed for living beings, and she was surprised to find little to no living beings in the place, but she definitely sensed something important. _"I...I found someone with your genetic code."_

 _"WHERE?!"_ He demanded, letting himself finally be a little unhinged! Camouflage was spooked and disturbed that Slade took a breath. _"I'm sorry. Just...is it him? Is it truly him and not a clone?"_

 _"I need to be closer in order to truly tell if it and and not some clone."_ The teen replied, shaking off her goosebumps. _"But first we need to take down security."_

 _"Right. Of course."_ Slade was already heading off, having Camouflage power walk with him to the control center filled with too few people and it looked like most of the place had been emptied by what the cameras seem to show.

 _"Looks like the place was being cleaned out and moved to a new facility that these guys don't know about."_ Camouflage noted. _"And by these people's thoughts, they are the lower level recruits of the place who hadn't actually seen the people in charge but were given orders to guard this place until the next morning when they'll pick up the remaining subjects."_

 _"That's not going to happen."_ Slade threw a knockout gas and then shut down the security completely. Camouflage turned them into shadows again, grabbing an access card out of one of them, and then turned them back to normal in front of a door with big yellow symbols, 'G1', displayed on it.

"He's in this one, but he's out cold." She swiped the card into the lock, and then entered to see that she was right. Grant was in an incubator asleep and naked. She went to a computer to have the incubator open. She then touched the man's forehead before she closed her eyes. In her mind, she was standing in a dark room. Colorful screens appeared before her, and displayed different types of memories with different types of emotions. She found the information she was looking for, yet with slight curiosity, she checked the man's emotional stats and background information on certain people.

After almost two minutes (every 12 seconds being 1 second in reality), she stepped away. "He's not a clone. He's real. It turns out that the day you thought he died, he did die ,but then there was a reverse reaction over the years. He's been healing himself back to health for the last decade and the scientists were able to stabilize the HIVE's serum to match yours. There is no mind control device inside him, but his memories of the lab seem to be put in the amnesia category since he died two years ago, and hadn't woken up since. In other words, he's alive and will need help getting back to health but he'll be fine."

When she looked at the man, she didn't know what he was thinking by the mask he wore. But he walked over to his son, looking down at who still looked like the day before he died. He reached his hand out to him but then pulled it back. Instead he held onto the edges of the incubator, grasping it tightly.

Camouflage placed a hand on his back and told him, "He still loves you. He'll be enraged when he wakes up but he does love you. Remember that." She turned to Grant, pulled him out and held him up by an arm on her shoulders and her arm wrapped around his torso. "Oof, he's heavy! Be careful!" She turned them into shadows, so they could slide out without the elevator. The girl then had them turn invisible when they reached the surface. She carried him into a truck that they parked in the alley. She placed him on a cot, strapping him onto it so he wouldn't fall off of it.

She soon felt the entire city shake mildly which worried the normal civilians. Slade got out unscathed as expected, but what she didn't expect was a child asleep in his arms.

"Slade, why do you have that kid?" She asked, feeling stupid for a moment.

"I couldn't leave him." He responded simply.

"What?" She approached the child and her eyes widened by not only the boy's appearance but his genetic code. "He's your clone...but human."

"I know. I checked the security room for information but it looks like whoever was in charge already deleted it before transferring locations. With this one, we might learn the truth." The man placed the boy on an extra cot they bought for emergencies.

The two got on the front seats. "Okaaaaaay, well now we finally have your son but also a clone of you from some messed up lab. If he turns out feral and attacks you, I'm locking you in a room with him and letting you sort that out."

Slade chuckled. The first laugh the teenage had heard for months.

 _To be continued..._


	2. Chapter 2: Vague memories and Xander

**Chapter 2: Vague memories and Xander**

"Grant should be waking up at any second. The people at the facility had been training him back to recovery, but he will be experiencing ups and downs. He'll be confused so we'll try our best to let him down gently." Camouflage told Slade while they were standing next to Grant who was sleeping. They turned around to face the unknown boy.

"He's your clone, but he's human. From what I could gather from him biologically is that he was created with your meta-human blood that's been turned human just recently. His DNA is strangely structured, so he may still be going through mutation. He's only been alive for a little over two years, but psychologically, he thinks he's eight years old with some of your memories before your soldier days. Besides your childhood memories put in him, his own memories are...difficult to sort through. He's been tortured nonstop since a few days after he was created that faces are blurred and voices mumbled. I thought his mind would be broken, but instead...it looks like it's...adapted. He can't feel physical pain like the rest of us. I bet he won't flinch if someone cut his arm with a rust saw. It'd feel like a toy saw tickling him."

"Is he any threat to us?" Slade questioned.

"No...he doesn't have the brain pattern for someone violent or cruel despite what he's been through. It's sort of like the mind of a monk or a saint. They find fault in their abusers, pitying them, but never enabling them of their behavior. His source of inspiration was young mother."

Slade reacted with surprise, but when he remembered his memories of his own biological mother, he understood. "What else can you tell me?"

"I can't really tell since mental illnesses can blend and overlap each other, especially with his degree of violence inflicted. All I can say for sure is that he'll need a lot of therapy and medicine to live with what he went through. I've seen sad cases, but I honestly believe this one can pull through. If you hadn't rescued him, he would've died in that explosion, which was better than the alternative that they might have had in mind. Child slaves are in high demand these days."

A groan was then heard behind them. Slade was quickly beside his son to see him slowly open his eyes. "Dad." He said tiredly. "Where am I?"

"You're in the hospital, son. Everything's alright."

"Hospital?... What happened? I haven't... seen you for... ten years?...I had a strange dream. There were these titans and..."

"Just rest, Grant. Everything will be explained tomorrow."

"Explain?" He sat up, feeling quite well suddenly. "What do you mean explain?! Oh my god! That dream was real wasn't it?! I died! And the Titans! Are they really dead?!"

"Grant-"

"Don't you dare lie to me!" He snapped, smacking a heart monitor on the floor.

"Grant, I avenged you by taking down the HIVE, but I couldn't take down the Titans because I couldn't let them kill Joey."

"Joey! What? He's some pretend hero now! I bet you're pretty proud _dad_! It's always about sweet perfect Joey! Well screw him! Screw the HIVE and the Titans, and screw you!" He got off the bed, but then saw the world spin that he fell to his knees.

Slade reached for him, but Grant shoved his hands away. "Don't touch me! None of you touch me! Or..." His vision turned blurry. He began panting. "Or I'll kill you." He tried to get up with the last of his strength.

"It's useless to force yourself." A child voice said. Slade and Camouflage looked to see that the child was off the bed and was standing next to the teen who jolted back by the surprise. He walked toward the man, reaching out to him.

"I said not to-!"

The boy shush him gently, "It's alright. I'm not gonna hurt you." He placed a hand on his cheek and the other hand on his forehead. "You're burning up really bad. You better get on that bed, or you'll melt the floor!" He told him nicely, and then put the man's arm over one shoulder to get him up. Slade helped getting him to bed.

"I..."

"That's enough out of you. When you feel better tomorrow, you can say whatever the hell you want." He placed the blanket over the man, helping him close his eyes to fall asleep. The child then looked to the two grown ups. "Sorry, I didn't get to introduce myself first. I'm Slade, Slade Wilson or so I believe." He held his hand up at the real Slade. "I know who I am and I know who you are."

"I know. Camouflage here," The teen waved at the boy with an awkward smile. "has the ability to check memories including personal thoughts. The people in that facility must've had a habit of talking about me. I'm not surprised that you'd make sense of it." The man sat on a chair that was placed near the corner of Grant's bed. The clone took his seat on his bed. Camouflage stepped away from the conversation to further check on Grant.

"So am I in trouble?" The boy questioned frankly.

"No. You know of my childhood past, but that's minor compared to bigger secrets that I've created over the years."

"Sooooo, I'm not in trouble? What are you going to do with me now?"

"I've considered the options if you turned out not to be a threat. I have step-cousins and friends who can adopt you to live a normal life."

The little kid hummed to that, though it sounded obviously negative. The boy's eyes slid over to where Grant was with curiosity and what seemed to be admiration. "I hope you don't mind sir, but I just wanna stay here."

"Why?" The man questioned. "Do you have personal business with my son?"

The boy looked away blushing. "I-I just wanna repay him for something."

"And what's that?"

The boy was silent for a bit, debating whether to tell his original or not. Yet, he didn't exactly have a reason not to. "He saved my life back there. Jus' wanna repay him for it. Did you ever have someone save you and you were really grateful?"

Slade remembered having those moments happen to him long ago with a very dear friend. "Yes. But we're not talking about me. And I don't know if Grant would want you around, but you will remain here in this hospital for further checkups before I find a good home for you."

The boy frowned, but he reluctantly accepted it. At least he got to be around Grant for a bit longer. "Okay. Do I get my own name?"

"I don't see why not. What do you prefer to be called?"

He smiled excitedly. "I always liked the name Alexander but call me Xander for short."

Slade smirked at him having thought the same thing which was strange but not surprising. "Xander it is then."

"Yea!" The boy now known as Xander cheered playfully making the man smile. "Can I also ask for one more thing?"

"That depends."

The boy nearly hopped by his own excitement. "Y'might it's weird, but we share the same DNA and it's awkward to call you Slade and I don't want to be keep calling you 'you' so can I," He blushed feeling awkward. "Can I call you pops?"

That was an awkward request. "Being my son doesn't exactly has its perks, and I don't plan on adopting you."

The little boy shrugged. "Being your clone doesn't have its perks either, and you don't gotta adopt me to call you 'Pops'."

It was still a bit uncomfortable since Slade didn't want to have more children, but he dug his own grave when he bought the boy with him, and said boy made a good point, so he responded, "Then yes, you may." The boy's face lit up. From Slade's point of view, the mercenary wondered if he really smiled like that back then. Remembering the past, he didn't have much to smile about.

"Can I also ask you another thing?" The little boy asked again.

"What is it now?" The male questioned.

"Can you tell me what's it like? To be a soldier. Was fighting in the war how you lost your eye?"

The vivid pieces of Slade's life flashed before his eyes where he saw so much blood, explosions and gruesomeness yet honor, valor and adventure in them. "I've fought only in two wars. I've fought in other battles similar to it yet it was never claimed as a war by our nation." He saw the boy stare at him with great anticipation that he wanted to laugh. "I ran away to the army when I was sixteen pretending to have been eighteen..." And so he began talking about his life story in the war. About how he met Wintergreen. He didn't get overly emotional about it.

He talked like a reminiscent old man sitting back on his chair with a distant look in his eye, sounding very far away as if his soul was returning back to the old days. He'd get louder at the foolish times and then softer at the grim moments. There was some moments he wished to not talk about/ Xander and also Camouflage let him be.

Slade didn't show much emotions on his face but his words and actions said enough. And then there was Camp Washington.

"You fell in love with your teacher? EW!" Xander stuck his tongue out. Camouflage giggled at his reaction.

"She was younger than me." He remarked. "And a much better fighter back then."

"Was she beautiful?" Xander asked.

"Very." Slade responded with a smug smile.

"Did you love her?"

"Yes...I love her." He responded with a reminiscent tone.

"What happened next?" The boy hugged his pillow unable to wait for what happened next.

"We fell in love and married within the year. She was pregnant with Grant but I was sent off to Vietnam. I was there for a few years until the military had _other_ ideas for me."

"They enhanced your meta-gene?" He questioned unsure if he wanted an answer but felt eager for it.

"I didn't know anything about a meta-gene back then. All I knew was that the government wanted me to test a truth serum so I wouldn't give important information, but it was an obvious lie afterwards. They used me to test on the possibility of creating super soldiers. I went insane and then unconscious for a few weeks until I was released. My health was still poor until I gained full control of my new abilities. Of course I didn't tell them that I had it under control which led me to desk duty."

"Why didn't you tell them?"

"If I did, I'd become a lab rat and other soldiers would become like me."

"So you did it to be unique?" The clone arched an eyebrow.

"It was more about the lab rat idea that set me off. Back then I'd do anything for my country but not when political and military schemes could be seen a mile away. My gut told me not to so I listened to it. Turns out I was right. Having more soldiers like me would've destroyed this world before Superman existed."

"Who?" The 40s boy was bewildered.

"Another hero. Continuing my story," He told the story of how he became Deathstroke. The man he was today.

"And then what happened next?" Xander asked with wide, awed eyes at the developed amazement.

Slade was silent because what did happen next?

He lost everything.

"We'll stop there for today. It's already passed midnight."

"What?! It's not like I'm going to school tomorrow!"

"But if you want to take care of Grant, you need all the rest you can get." He walked over to the boy who laid on his back groaning.

"You know, if you're married, why aren't you wearing your wedding ring?" The clone pointed out.

"That's another story for another time."

"But you'll be leaving right! You're a mercenary after all! Gotta pay for the hospital bills and stuff!" He pouted.

Slade chuckled. "Get some rest." He told him lightly. The boy closed his eyes and for a moment he almost looked like Grant as a child. An eight year old boy with light blond hair in need of a hair cut and surprisingly silver eyes. Slade's eyes were grayish blue due to the experiment.

* * *

It was a wonderful bright day at a small town as clear white snow glistened. At the town's hospital, a little boy was sitting beside a slumbering man. He changed the cold wet cloth every ten minutes or so to keep his fever down. He read a novel to keep him company.

Xander had spent the days learning about the new world before him through Camouflage and his foster-father by word of mouth or technology. He didn't want to approach people due to his time in the lab. He feared he might be manipulated or kidnapped if he did, so he spent most of his time in the room unless either Camouflage or Slade will walk with him outside when Grant had to be checked by the hospital staff or Camouflage. The boy had also received his medical checkups. Other than his mental problems and DNA mutation, he was physically healthy and still emotionally influential.

Right now, Grant's grayish-blue eyes finally opened to see the ceiling's white color. He shifted his gaze to a more colorful view. They laid on the boy for a few minutes. Xander wasn't aware due to being intrigued by the book. "You're..." The man whispered weakly. Xander's head flew up, staring wide-eyed at the man who was finally awake. "You're that kid back at the place."

"Yes!" He answered nervously. "I'm Xander!"

"Grant. Where's da..." He tried to think.

"Dad is coming to visit soon!" He said quickly, feeling his heart thump with nervousness.

"Dad? Are you another bastard child of his?" The man asked rudely, though the child only smiled.

"I'm actually a child clone of his with a bunch of his memories. That sorta makes us half-brothers since we're kinda daddy and son now." He tried not to sound too excited.

"Clone, huh. It's better you run away from him kid even if you're his clone because he ain't no good to anyone."

"He's better than others." He bit his bottom lip. "Do you remember anything else?"

"I remember my father being a total dick."

Xander giggled. "I meant at that place silly. You remember me?"

"I remember you being beaten up by a bunch of assholes."

"And you saved me." He turned the wet cloth around. Grant felt a welcome chill on his aching head. "Told me not to let those bastards push me around."

"Don't take it too literal, kid. I just did what I had to do." The man sat up, having the wet cloth fall on his lap. "I'm starving! Is there any food in this dump?"

Xander nodded. "I'll go get it!" He jumped off his chair, placing the book on it. "Don't go anywhere!" He ordered before leaving. The man merely rolled his eyes. The boy didn't go to the hospital's cafeteria. Instead he exited the hospital to head over to a restaurant nearby. He had money given by Slade just in case he wanted anything.

Grant was flexing his hands, testing his vision and movement. He got off his bed slowly to be careful. The last time he jumped out of bed, he almost died of exhaustion. After a few seconds of standing, he took his first steps toward a calendar that showed that he had slept for a week by the details written on it. He then walked over to a closet in the room. There were clothes hung and shoe boxes below.

He took one out that was covered with plastic to see a sticky note stating: For Grant when he wakes up -Slade.

The man crumpled the sticky note throwing it to the corner. He stripped from his dress to see that the training back at the facility paid off. Not a body fat in sight and that said a lot having slept for an entire week. For awhile he flexed his muscles grinning at how his muscles bulge out like those great big athletes.

Done having his fun, he put on some real piece of underwear, and saw that his choice was a tracksuit. He put it on, and felt pretty comfortable.

The door opened and popped out Xander with a bag. "I know that you wouldn't appreciate hospital food so I went to the restaurant to get you some real man food with sweets too!" He stopped to stare in amazement of a Grant fully awake and dressed properly.

The man was a little over six feet tall with a tan complexion. His light blond hair was spiky due to having been shaved during his sleep. Grant walked over to the boy to take the bag from him. "Thanks kid." He swatted the boy's novel to the ground to take a seat himself. The boy knew that he shouldn't expect any manners from his hero. He may be his hero, but didn't mean he was that great a person in real life. He remembered the stories Slade told him about Grant.

Xander picked up his book and sat on his bed, staring at the man. "So what do you plan to do next when you're better?"

"Don't know kid. The whole world thinks I'm dead and I don't got shit." He continued eating.

"Dad has a place at Kenya. You could work as a hunter. Get to practice your abilities before turning yourself in to the mercenary business."

Grant stared at him. Eyes processing the information. "Not a bad idea kid but relying on dear old daddy isn't what I do."

"It's just a place to stay at. What you do there is your business?" The boy added innocently. He's been planning on this conversation. Slade was well aware of it but what Grant's decision will become will be based on him. "You got no money, and since the world thinks you're dead, you could be someone else and no one would look down on you as daddy's shadow."

Grant stared at the boy feeling a bit suspicious by all this. "And why are you telling me this?"

Xander knew that question was coming so he tried not to be too nervous or eager. "I just thought that since we're both the bastard's sons, I thought you could take me with you." He blushed and then hurriedly added, "Because I'm a kid and obviously daddy has other things to do, so I thought that since you're an adult, that we could go to Kenya, earn a little money and then move to America to start your own mercenary business, and I could be your info guy!"

"Info guy?"

"Similar to a technical analyst. I give you information that'll lead you to the best results. I've been honing my skills on computers and succeeded in bypassing several government securities and firewalls, and other things."

Grant paused from taking a bite from his food. He questioned, incredulously, "I've been asleep for just a week. How are you able to learn all that in seven days?"

"I met one of daddy's friends here who is a computer expert in hiding. I'm still nervous around new people, but I really wanted to be useful. He taught me the shortcuts and other basics."

"Bypassing several government securities are the basics?" He questioned skeptically.

"It's not?" The boy looked at him completely dumbfounded that the man stared at him the same way.

"Are you also a meta-freak like my dad or something?" The man questioned curiously.

The boy shook his head. "I'm just a boy."

"You must be kidding me." Grant held his foot onto his skepticism.

"I'm not! Honest to the Lord Jesus Christ I'm telling the truth!" He did the sign of the cross and then had his right hand over his heart and his left hand up to show his absolute honesty.

"I still don't believe you."

"I'm telling the truth! I checked it myself from dad's friends! I have the files right here to prove it!" He got off his bed, so he could pick his mattress up that hid folders of paper. He took one out randomly and then handed it over to Grant. "I have them with me if I don't believe it the next day!"

Grant took a peek, but he did not actually reading it. He just flipped the pages over, and then at the last page, there was one sentence written in crayon, "I am human!" With big smiley faces.

He threw the folder onto his bed. "Alright, I get it. Even if this is a trap, I got nothing better to do."

"So that's a yes?" The child stared at him with big hopeful eyes.

Grant was taken back by the intensity of that silver shine. This was the child clone of his father, and Slade's eyes didn't shine like that for a long time. He looked to the side, stating roughly, "Yeah, whatever."

"Yes!" The kid pumped his fist to the air.

"But don't get comfortable. Just because you're a kid doesn't mean I'm going to baby you or anything."

"He expects nothing less." Slade entered the room. Xander hopped off his bed.

"I'll leave you two to talk!" He walked out of the room.

Slade and Grant stared at each other. "I was eavesdropping." The father said point blank.

"Of course. So are you paying that kid to watch over me or something?" His son questioned.

"Nope. What Xander said was the truth. He's my clone with my childhood memories. He doesn't want anyone I refer him to to take care of him. He wants you because you saved him." He explained.

"Uh huh. Whatever. I don't plan on being some kid's babysitter. Find him some foster home or something."

"If that's what you want. I'm sure Xander knew you'd answer that way, but he seems determined." Slade responded, and then spoke with sincerity, "Grant, I'm happy that you're alive. I just thought you should know." He exited the room. Both men flushed by the statement.

* * *

Later, Grant was asked by Camouflage questions about the people who took him while monitoring his thoughts. The man was able to answer that he only remembered being trained with masked men while a woman's voice talked to him through an intercom at all times. The next thing he remembers is being on some mission that he couldn't remember what was about. But there was old structures like a temple or something antique-like, and there was someone. There was a man he got close to, but he can't remember. He only remembered being with that person in what looked like a garden. But nothing else specific.

Camouflage informed him that his brain cells was still stagnant due to sleeping for two years. It also didn't help that his healing factor would need time to readjust to his woken state. Grant was not at all happy with the news, but he sucked it up and dealt with it. He had been spending most days sleeping and experiencing the ups and downs. At times the man would act in his normal way and then the next, his life was nearly depleted. When it did, none of the doctors touched him since Camouflage had seen that the healing factor will do its job so wasting medical supplies would be pointless.

"He's a lot calmer than I expected him to be." Camouflage commented to Slade while the two watched him sleep from their modest hotel room. "Are you sure he attacked the Titans just because he thought they made her break up with him and for the apartment damages? I mean he does have some anger in him, but he seems level headed."

"It's what I know, Camouflage." Slade replied. "Or what I led myself to believe. Grant has always been a rowdy child but a good one nonetheless. He was a good older brother to Joe. He was a good son. He always had the top marks at his military school. All the teachers praised him. But I think that most of all, he was a good friend."

"Friend? To who?"

Slade fell silent. He then explained the silence, "It's a...very sensitive topic. I guess you could say Grant had someone he loved dearly. Platonically like I did for Wintergreen. She died a year before Grant did. He was depressed, suicidal possibly, but he pulled himself through it a lot faster than I or anyone I knew would. I guess she inspired him to live on, but I was a fool into thinking he was alright. He must've just pulled on a show, only to get worse and worse that he finally put that anger out on the Titans. Trying to become me in order to forget himself. That poor stupid boy. He never had a chance when he just needed an outlet for all that grief. I-"

"You didn't do anything." Camouflage interrupted him. "You didn't have custody. You didn't have a choice in the matter of how Grant would grow up, but I will tell you now, and it's not something to make you feel better, but to get into that damn head of yours when you look at your son the next time: He hates you for leaving without saying goodbye, for not explaining yourself, but he only feels that way because you were such a great father. You loved him. You inspired him. You made him laugh and was there when he needed you. Grant remembers that, and he just needs to know now that you are still his father."

Slade was silent again, and he didn't speak for the rest of the night. He simply stared at the screen with deep concentration.

* * *

 _"DAD!" A seven-year-old Grant called out to his father who was suddenly distracted._

 _Slade turned to his son. The two were shopping for their trip to Kenya together. "Sorry son. Thought I saw an old acquaintance of mine. That's a pretty good fishing pole you have in your hand, but where we're fishing, you'll need a sturdier one."_

 _Grant put the fishing pole away and looked at the others with a careful eye before grabbing one, whisking it to test its weight and flexibility. He smiled at the better comparison. Slade smiled as well, proud at how well his son was becoming at choosing what he knew was best for him. At such a young age, Grant could already hit his marks meticulously, strategize on the chess board, and put that into motion when he hunted._

 _"So Frannie and Max came to my school because I wanted Max to come talk about his time at the military." Grant informed his father as they made their way to the hooks._

 _"Huh. How come I wasn't invited?"_

 _"You were busy." Grant reminded him, not minding it at all since his dad was a busy person._

 _But Slade took those words to heart. He was busy, but if Grant wanted to include him in anything, he shouldn't hesitate. "I was, but a message would've been nice. I know I'm absent weeks at a time, but if you need me son, I'll be with you in a heart beat."_

 _"I know, but your job's important. And I'm away at school for weeks at a time, too, so it's not a problem. I'm already happy I get to spend my vacations with you."_

 _Slade felt his heart heat up and torch the corners of his lips, having them rise with his son's. "Me too." He ruffled his kid's hair._

 _"Hey dad, when we get to Kenya, can you tell us another story about Deathstroke? For school, we have an art project to display our cleverness and creativity on the field."_

 _"Cleverness and creativity. That's a great way to explain you two. I'm sure without another story, you could make a clever idea and she could easily do something with it in your project."_

 _"I know, but you never bought me to Thailand, so I'd like some insight from you and Deathstroke of how it truly works in that country."_

 _Swayed, Slade agreed. "Alright."_

 _"Yes! I mean thank you father." Grant smiled at him with sparkling eyes that practically screamed, "I love you for doing this for me!"_

 _Slade took those silent words and kissed his son's head. "You're welcome son."_

"Grant?"

Grant was woken up by the kid. "What do you want now?" He asked, irritated. He hasn't exactly regained the skill to sleep and wake up as if he wasn't.

"Can I sleep next to you?" The little boy sounded scared.

"Why?"

"Nightmare."

Grant took a clear look at him to see a scared little boy holding his pillow anxiously for safety. This had happened before and he was too sleepy to give a damn, so he scooted over. "Hurry up and get in." He ordered. The boy got on the bed and the two got under the blanket. The bed was meant for one person so to get comfortable the older man wrapped his arm around the small boy and pulled him closer.

The next morning, during breakfast in their hospital room, Grant remained silent while Xander ate his breakfast quickly. He then paused to try to eat slower, but he looked apprehensive. After breakfast, Grant wanted to do push ups and got Xander to sit on his back. The boy happily got on with his laptop on his lap so he could watch the new American and Canadian cartoons. When Xander watched an old one that Grant knew from his childhood, he found himself talking about it, and Xander was more than happy to talk about it with him.

The two then went on a light jog together through the small town. Stopped by a small restaurant for lunch where Xander shrunk himself when the waitress would come by even though they've seen her a couple of times. When the food came by, the boy was again struggling to eat at a normal pace. For the rest of the people around them, he avoided eye contact and tried to look small again as if he could disappear from sight. Grant always found him pitiful so distracted him by making him talk about what new thing he learned. The boy would jump at it like a fire rocket and that made him forget his nervousness when Grant talked, too.

After that, they walked back, talking about different things. Grant would notice how Xander was always staring with deep interest in the buildings and points out the shape of the windows and the condition that they were in. It was a boring topic, but by how passionately the boy talked made Grant interested to listen. The conversation would switch when they would pass by the town's church, and the boy would become a priest who recited one of the bible's stories from Slade's memories.

When they reached the hospital, Camouflage would be there to talk to them individually to help them remember things naturally since she wasn't comfortable picking their minds.

Grant was grateful for this. With the help of aromas and a calming atmosphere to take a nap in, he would remember more vividly little bits of his past as a child and that his mission from the lab involved Ra's Al Ghul or perhaps someone similar to him. One thing that was for sure was that Grant couldn't remember key people in his life that weren't his family members. Camouflage told him that he may be definitely suffering some mental blockage due to trauma, but his brain was definitely reviving itself so it was only a matter of time.

As for Xander, Camouflage was actually helping him block certain memories and only focus on other details such as who was behind the scenes and where he was. Slade and her needed him to help them find the people behind taking Grant's body so they can understand the mystery behind him and Grant. But so far Xander can only remembering hearing a spiteful woman's voice and a few others in the darkness.

While her and Xander talked, Grant would train with Slade. The teen may despise his father, but he wasn't stupid to not have him be his teacher. Slade was direct and tough on him, not letting emotions get in the way of taking his son seriously. Grant would burst out in blood thirsty fury when he would be taken down, which would lead to Slade having to beat him til he stayed down.

"That will be enough for today." Slade would say and then try to help Grant up, but like usual, the teen would push him away. Slade would scold him and help him to his room anyway. Grant would become sullen for the rest of the night with Xander lying his head against his arm while he drew fields, cities and buildings in his sketch book.

Grant would look over to him, and not see a blonde boy, but instead a woman with olive skin and dark auburn hair sketching monoliths with different shapes added to that rock. He closed his eyes remembering his colorful childhood. His little brother Joe loved painting and singing. He was such a soft boy while Grant loved the loud sounds of bullets splitting glass bottles apart. He thought back to his old mansion home in England that flourished with expressive art and ancient armory. He remembered Wintergreen being able to pinpoint dates and such for them since he was such a book worm.

 _"Grant, your mother called for me because you were acting out in school again, and you refuse to listen to her. Your mother and all of the teachers are deathly worried since you were such an honored student. I understand that the divorce is hard on you, and trust me, your father wants to see you. He loves and misses you, but he is frightened beyond measure that you might be targeted like your little brother was. What happened to Joe was tragic, but damn it to hell if you were harmed."_

 _A nine-year-old Grant didn't bother to look up to Wintergreen at the headmaster's office. He tried to block him out but hearing about his father willed him to listen because he needed to hear about him. His mother refused to talk about his father, and her eyes...The way she looked at him...It's only been a few months since the divorce, but things had become progressively worse._

 _"I don't want to go home." He simply said as he thought to himself, "I'm hated there. Mother doesn't want to even look at me. Her servants and her people look at me like I'm some monster just because I'm dad's kid and Joe is hers."_

 _Wintergreen sighed, "Why? Your mother and brother are there, and they love you."_

 _"When I went home, mom told me that dad wasn't the man I thought he was. Dad's enemies came after her and Joe, and kidnapped Joe. They wanted information from dad but he wouldn't tell them, and he still saved Joe's life."_

 _"Yes, but at the cost of his voice."_

 _"SO WHAT?! HE'S STILL ALIVE! DAD SAVED HIM! IT'S NOT LIKE THOSE DAMN FUCKERS WERE GOING TO ACTUALLY LET JOE GO! THEY COULD'VE DOUBLE CROSSED DAD ANYWAY! DAD IS A MAN OF HIS WORD! DO YOU THINK THAT WHAT HE HAD TO HIDE WASN'T CRUCIAL! DID EVERYONE REALLY THINK SOMETHING LIKE THIS WOULDN'T HAPPEN! WHY WEREN'T ANY OF YOU IDIOTS PREPARED?!"_

 _"Grant..."_

 _Grant was in full blown tears. His voice getting softer but the anger still festering in every word, "I told mom that we weren't guarded enough. Dad and me aren't home, and she needed to amp up the security since Joe isn't a fighter. I told that stupid bitch, and look what happened. Now I'm without a dad. I'm just a boy, Uncle Wintergreen. I need him. Please take me to my dad. I don't give a damn what the courts say. I'm his son."_

 _Wintergreen was silent. Grant knew he wouldn't heed his pleas because he wasn't truly a part of this family despite being his godfather._

 _So instead he asked as he wiped away his tears, "If you can't take me to dad, then at least tell me the truth about that night because I know they're hiding it, but no one will tell me. Why were we really targeted?"_

 _Wintergreen stared at him with a grave expression as he remained disappointingly silent again because once again, he had no right to say. Leaving Grant in his growing boiling rage._


	3. Chapter 3: Zareen

**Chapter 3: Zareen**

Three weeks later, Grant and Xander were discharged under his fake name, and Camouflage had the townspeople remember their appearances differently so they couldn't be tracked. They drove to another country with Slade driving and Camouflage using her powers to hide them, so they wouldn't be found at one of Slade's private cabins that were only a few miles away from civilization. It did little to change the normal routine that Grant and Xander made for themselves.

Except this time they were given their own rooms. Grant was happy, but Xander wasn't. His room was normal, but in his mind he was seeing different types of rooms the he slept alone in until someone came in to harm him. One room that he vividly remembered was concrete with a machine at the corner to keep him breathing. He was chained to the bed while he wore doll-like boy clothes.

"Are you alright, Xander?" Camouflage asked, noticing how pale the boy went. Slade looked at him, and Grant was leaning against his bedroom's door frame.

The boy shook his head. "I don't want to sleep alone."

"Because you're scared that someone else might go in the room instead of us?"

Xander nodded. "One time I was kept in an underground bedroom where I was all alone, and this no one would come in the room but haunting music would play. It would get scary and intense as if someone was coming in or was always there to begin with. And I wouldn't think of ghosts or monsters. I would think it was Nate and that he was going to taunt me."

"Nate is old and frail in the hospital now." Slade reminded him. "He can't taunt any of us, and even if he could, those were empty lies."

Xander took in a deep breath. "I know. And I know I shouldn't be afraid, but my subconscious is telling me I should...to protect myself. But I'll get over it. You did, so I can."

Camouflage gave him an encouraging smile. "That's very brave of you, but you're only eight-years-old. You shouldn't struggle, so while Slade was giving you history lessons yesterday, Grant and I drove over here to prepare your room." She turned off the lights which immediately activated a nightlight that projected the images of sea nettles swimming through the room. Xander entered the room with grey eyes filled with wonder. "You said that you loved watching them swim because it was calming, and we added some calming music with a cute pop when the loop has cute baby sea nettles come out and grow into sea nettles. The windows are bullet proof, and also well equipped with security that even if the technology is cut down, they have their own backup battery to keep working. But if the trouble is inside the house, you can hide in a secret soundproof compartment underneath the bed that will hide your heat signature and protect you from explosions. It will also protect you from poisonous air since there are oxygen tanks in there that will keep you breathing for a good year with food and water with a bathroom for you to use."

"Yeah, so when the zombie apocalypse hit, you know where to go." Grant joked.

Xander looked over to him, and he ran over to hug his arm with a desperate look in his eye. He avoided looking up for fear of seeing any negative reaction but then Xander felt something plush against his face. He looked up to see an absolutely hideous white rabbit with a nose-less flat shaved face, bug eyed yellow eyes, and sharp buck teeth coming out of an alarmingly blood thirsty smile. It looked ready to grab someone with its tiny naked human hands.

"This little girl's name is Cutthroat Sally Wednesday Wilson, and she will chew a bitch who plans to hurt you. She loves hugs and kisses, but won't pressure you for them. She's very understanding that you might grow up someday and leave her, but she just wants to make sure you're okay."

Xander was in tears and he hugged her for dear life. Her own bug eyes and teeth stretching out comedically, making Xander smile. Slade watched Grant and he was shocked.

After the boys went to sleep, Slade was wide awake with Camouflage as they searched through satellite images throughout New York and looking through ever single possible way out of the damn city. They have been doing this for weeks and had contacted their best info people, but even they came short after almost a month of this.

As frustrating as this could be, Slade was more interested in something else. "I never saw Grant smile like that."

"Y'mean like a loving human being?" Camouflage casually joked.

"I'm serious."

"So am I. What is so surprising? Grant had been spending every day with Xander, and Xander was very adamant of becoming Grant's brother. When Grant's upset, Xander's immediately by his side being supportive. And Grant helps Xander with his nightmares by having them sleep together." Camouflage shrugged. "Grant was also the one who wanted us to do the whole thing with Xander's room for his sake. I know you have this image in your head of Grant being just this angry person who wants to isolate himself, but the truth is, Grant is just someone who needs to be loved. He hates talking about his childhood, but I can hear it in his voice that he was lonely."

Slade was silent, looking back in the past.

 _Wintergreen had just gotten back from seeing Grant, and he reported to him of Grant's reaction to the divorce and how he's been doing. "He wants me to bring you to him. He doesn't blame you for what you did, and still loves you so much that it's tearing him apart not having his father by his side. He needs you Slade."_

 _Slade remained silent while Wintergreen didn't since he didn't need words, "But you won't see him. Because you blame yourself for what happened that night, and you should. I would've done the same as Adeline if you put one of my children in the same position. But is doing this truly worth putting your son in so much doubt and suffering in believing that you don't love him anymore. Even with all my rage against you, I wouldn't cost one of my other children your love if he is in the same state as Grant."_

 _Slade continued to remain silent, but Wintergreen could clearly see the tears fall down the man's one eye. Slade desperately wanted to see Grant. To reassure him that he truly absolutely still loved him, and that he needed to step up and continue to become a much better man than he was. He absolutely dreaded never being there for his birthdays, his award ceremonies, his graduations, or the greetings at airports, or surprise welcomes anywhere else. He would feel hollow every time he went to Kenya without bringing him for camping and hunting. To continue to show him the difference between poachers and systematic killings to preserve the balance of life. He wanted to go beyond just the gun and teach his son how to date and love a person whether it was a girl or a boy. Help him and possibly fail at understanding his homework as the education evolves in strange ways. Hear his frustrations if he becomes interested in politics, or perhaps enjoy the arts if Grant ever did develop an interest for it out of nowhere. Maybe Grant won't become a soldier, and instead wants to become something as boring as a librarian. Slade wouldn't care. He simply wanted to be there, watching Grant grow up because he was his boy._

 _Grant was his son and he loved him._

Slade was bought out of his thoughts when Grant exit his room, and said that he was checking if Xander was okay. He quietly entered the room and Camouflage and Slade could see by the soft lights that Xander was deep asleep. Grant sat down on the floor by his side, watching Xander hold Cutthroat Sally Wednesday Wilson tightly when bad dreams came after him, but then he would then relax when they were gone. Grant remained longer than needed.

Camouflage checked the emotional rates and telepathically told Slade, _"Definitely strong brotherly affection. But...something else is itching in Grant's mind. The sight of...a woman? Looks middle eastern with dark auburn hair."_

 _"Zareen."_ Slade came to the realization.

* * *

Grant and Xander walked along the road towards the town since it wasn't wise to jog in a place that they didn't know may have something they could either hit, fall or slip on. Grant had the two talk about their hobbies. Grant liked being active: training, fighting, hunting, playing sports, and rock climbing. Xander had only been freed from the lab for over three weeks now, but he noticed that he really loved staring at buildings and lands.

"Dad's not into it, but I guess because of the lab, I never really got to appreciate what was around me, but my eyes can't help but be drawn to what kind of metal or wood that supports the structure of a fine painted and furnished place. I love staring at the paintings that focus on them and gives it a personality." He took a bite from his beef jerky normally, which made Grant smile.

"Guess someone's gotta have a weird hobby. Is that why you draw nothing but them in that sketch book that Camouflage got for you?"

Xander nodded enthusiastically. "I drew the whole town we were in, and draw what I see from the internet. There's a whole world out there, and I really want to see it with you. I want to see the Alepotrypa cave of Hades to the top of the Burj Khalifa."

"Where I'll drop you." Grant joked, getting a laugh out of Xander.

"Being dropped is actually one of the most merciful deaths I've been given." The boy admitted.

"Better than being burned from the inside out." He picked up his fist and the two fist bump to this sick humor.

Xander then asked, "Can you draw?"

Grant snorted, "Hell no! I ain't an artistic guy. Except...I do know how to play the violin."

"What? Why?"

"Why? Is it really-Well, yeah. It's because...I know it's because of someone but not that other guy. I...Anyway, it was for someone who dared me, and it was one hell of an experience but I was making fuckin' love to that violin once I got the hang of it. Played it every time I felt down y'know. But none of that classical shit like Beethoven. But I did play some musical ones like I dreamed a dream from Les Miserables, and some current songs too if it matched my mood."

"Will you play for me?"

"No way! I haven't played for over a decade!"

"But you said you made love to it, so you must've ingrained it in your muscle memory. C'mon! There might be a musical store and Camouflage gave me allowance!" Xander began running!"

"Hey! You're going to sli-!" But Grant slipped instead, having his face land on snow.

Xander burst out laughing and then began running faster when Grant came bolting for him. He was unsuccessfully captured and Grant stuck a cold hand behind his back. The boy didn't flinch, looking at Grant like the weirdo he was. The teen then just remembered, "Oh right, you can't feel like the rest of us."

"I mean, I feel the chill but my impulse to react is dead. I bet you could hit me in the balls, and I wouldn't care."

Grant stared at his little brother. "Fuck, you are powerful. Anyway, enough goofing off." He picked Xander up like luggage in his arm. "I'm going to need to see if there is a trash can I can dump you in."

"What?! NO! My sense of smell is still here!"

"Mwuhahahaha!"

Camouflage and Slade watched them from afar. _"See, they're perfectly normal. I'm sure Grant sees part of this Zareen person in Xander, which is perfectly normal."_

 _"But he could still be deceiving himself. I don't want Grant to be broken by this if he does remember Zareen. I know the feeling of losing someone all too well."_

 _"But this is different, Slade. You never forgot the people you love, and Grant needs to remember at his own pace. Perhaps he is deceiving himself, but Xander purely loves him, and Grant needs that love."_

 _"But what if it turns Xander against him if Grant realizes he doesn't actually care for Xander but instead an image of someone he already loved. Someone he already considered a sibling to him. We need to break it to them."_

 _"No, Slade! We don't know how Grant will react! I can't let you!"_

Slade remained silent, and then told her, _"You're right. The both of them are still at delicate stages. We were fools to keep them together."_

 _"No, we're not. Grant needs this because you haven't been able to step up to the plate to be there for him as a father. You only acted as his coach, and Grant accepts that because it's comfortable but not what he needs. Before we get to this Zareen person business, you need to fix what you had with Grant first."_ The teen reasoned.

Slade didn't answer her, and Camouflage simply said to urge him to do something, _"Grant doesn't plan on sticking around if he feels like he's ready to leave, and you'll waste this chance to reconnect. There's nothing keeping you two apart except for yourself. Sure Grant will be angry at you, but there is rage that needs to be let out first before you can be loved and respected back. It's what he deserves after all this time of neglect."_ She walked away, leaving Slade to his thoughts, hoping he would man up.

* * *

Grant and Xander ended up at a music store where they did sell violins, but Xander was shocked by how expensive they were. "Whoooooa, they cost so much!"

"What? Did you think instruments cost a buck? These things are top notched and meant to last at least a couple of years if you remember to keep good care of it and change the strings at least half a year or so. Zareen bought me one to force me into learning how to play it."

"Who's Zareen?" Xander asked curiously, and Grant looked at him lost.

"Who?"

"Zareen...You just said Zareen bought you a violin."

Grant was confused, and didn't want to talk about it. Xander immediately recognized that reaction and looked away from the store to focus on something else, "We came here to get snacks for the movies! Let's see if they have strawberries!" He pulled his brother away from the store.

* * *

"Zareen..." Camouflage was surprised to hear that from Xander's mouth. The two were having a private session at the study room with Camouflage sitting on a chair and Xander sitting across her on the sofa.

"Yeah. We were at a music store because I wanted to buy him a violin, and I think Grant remembered someone important but accidentally left a traumatic mark on him. In the lab, I would meet other experiments traumatized by what they went through, and one of them would blank out when we would say a specific word that clearly left a mark on them. If someone pushes them to remember what they went through, they turned extremely violent, and I felt their rage as they bludgeoned me repeatedly."

"And forgive me if it's sensitive but what effected you more at the time. Their rage or their hits."

"Their rage." Xander answered without pause. "I felt different types of pains, and the physical ones go away, and be blocked out, and the mental ones takes time but they can be changed if you just perceived things differently. At first my body would scream in agony when I got hurt, but eventually it learned that it was pointless, so it adapted. At first, I was thinking very negative thoughts, but when I had a vision of grandma, I thought differently, and anything those psychopaths said, I twisted their own words to my own advantage to break them down. Why speak down to a lowly clone like me with such confidence. They had privileges, but they chose to mock someone who didn't. It was easy to paint them as weak and useless, and I would pity and glare at their actions, knowing they could do so much more but were impulsive cowards with fetishes that symbolized their lack of control and self-esteem. But emotions...I...can never forget their faces."

Xander cried freely, finding no shame in doing so. Camouflage sat down next to him.

The boy tried to remain strong, "The lab...they made me do things to others. I know it's not my fault...but they weren't strong." His voice cracked. "I-"

CREECK! CRACK! BAM!

They heard what sounded like a tree fall down. The two immediately raced out to find Grant beating the hell out of Slade whose leg got caught under the tree so he couldn't get free. Blood was already soaking Grant's fists as his own face boiled rage from red.

Before Camouflage could react, Xander was already running to them. "GRAAAAANT!" He cried out desperately. "STOP!" He begged and Grant did. He looked to Xander, huffing for air as his face chilled by the winter air again. Xander was already soaked in tears, and he walked over to Grant, unafraid but worried. "Please stop fighting. Is something wrong?" Xander cupped Grant's face. "You don't need to hurt dad. You don't have to tell me anything. I'll love you and we can figure it all out later when you're ready. Okay?"

Grant stared at Xander a few more seconds longer and started to tear up, taking larger huffs of air. His own face pained by his previous grimace. "I don't know if I love you."

"It's okay." Xander smiled reassuringly. "I didn't expect you to. I just needed to know you'll be okay because I love you, and I don't need you to love me back to care. But I'd be really happy if you could try when you can. I will wait." He hugged Grant, not caring if his bloodied hand stained his clothes. Grant was still deeply emotionally confused but he needed someone to hold him so he didn't find himself all lost and confused. He needed Xander to remind him he meant something on this Earth. He felt safe and cared for.

Camouflage removed the tree with her telepathic powers and carefully took Slade away from Grant and threw him across the other side of the house. _"WHAT THE FUCK?! Why would you tell him about Zareen when I explicitly told you not to!"_

 _"I thoug-"_

 _"YOU DON'T GET TO DO WHAT'S BEST FOR HIM WHEN YOU HAVEN'T BEEN GIVEN THE RIGHT TO BE HIS FATHER AGAIN! You may have thought you were doing a good thing, but you clearly forgot that to do a good thing like that, you need the other person to trust you. You can't hope to save a suicidal person without establishing a reason to go with whatever you say when they'll just jump off when you're not looking. That's why I insisted that you patch things up with Grant because whatever comes out of your mouth are bullets or air to his brain."_ Camouflage sighed in disappointment, sitting next to a remorseful Slade. "Why can't you just apologize."

Slade stared up at the clear blue sky, truly feeling like a fool. "Do I have the right?"

"Well, for rights...they need to be exercised before a court for validation right?"

Slade remained silence once again.

* * *

"Her name was Zareen...Zareen Wintergreen." Grant told Xander after he calmed down, and his hand was healed from punching that tree down and his father in the face. He was lying down on the study room's sofa with Xander sitting on a stool next to him. "Uncle Wintergreen's wife, Rosa, felt like being charitable so adopted this half Bialyan, half Koonish four year old, and I was the same age so figured we could play together, and we immediately hit it off like a couple of goofballs."

 _"EN GARDE!" Cried the little girl who held her stick out at Grant._

 _"NEVER!" The other cried and they fought against each other._

 _The two kids were being watched over by Adeline and Wintergreen's second ex-wife, Rosa Wintergreen. The sun was high to show that it was still the early hours of the morning, so the two were just starting. When Zareen's stick broke, she dodged Grant's poke, and took off to climb a tree. Their pirate play changed into a race to the top of the tree, and then they began talking about random stuff like whether the earth was flat or round, if monkeys really grab onto branches with their tails, and how weird adults were. Naturally, Grant gloated about his father of how he was a war hero and actually fought in wars. Zareen pointed out that she was born in a war torn place, and it's really dirty and sad. She really didn't like that place, and Grant said, "Duh, who would. But don't worry. You're here now, and we're going to play every day." Zareen's eyes glimmered at being told that._

 _The two then jumped off the tree to go jump into the lake. Their mothers yelling at them to stop, but their rebellion took over their tiny souls that burned hotter and brighter than the sun._

 _Days and nights followed where Zareen or Grant would go to each others houses to play._

Grant's tone became warmer, "Zareen and I were inseparable. I loved her like a little sister, always trying to take the lead and protect her like an idiot and she was the smart one. Always making sure I didn't get ahead of myself and made sure I was well dressed for an event like a little sister looking after her older brother. She followed me everywhere, and became a total tomboy because of it. But she was artistic and loved dressing up all fancy-like like a girl." The older brother gave a brief reminiscent smile. "I wanted her to always be by my side. Even on trips with dad and private family events, or be my partner in school projects and dances because I didn't want any guy hitting on her, and I could get away with that. Zareen just snorted at me, and said she had bigger plans than romance, but she was happy to be there with me, so we could ditch the dance and secretly place a prank in one of the classrooms that I pick the lock to. We never got caught and it was epic." His face fell when his memories took the turn for the worse.

 _When they were eight, a year before the incident that would split them all apart, Zareen was being made to leave England for New York City with her step mother. Rosa and Wintergreen had divorced years ago, and the woman wanted to move with her American lover. Zareen begged to stay with Grant, but Rosa didn't want her to live with anyone else. Her and Adeline may have spent time together forced by their kids, but they never truly got along._

 _Zareen was in tears and Grant was furious, yelling that Zareen shouldn't have to leave her life behind! The two were allowed to at least spend their remaining days together on a camping trip with their fathers. The two kids were making sure to play as much as they could together from dawn to late in the night._

 _When the two children could get to higher ground to see more of the forest, Zareen took the opportunity to tell Grant a secret. "There's a legend in my home country Koonish that over a billion years ago, two siblings were once created by this white light that gave this Earth life."_

 _"Like Adam and Eve?"_

 _"Yeah, but they didn't kiss or stuff. These two siblings were the representation of that thing called platonic love. The thing that our dads have. The two first real best friends free of the obligations of familial love and the icky stuff in romantic love. Sounds cool right."_

 _"What's the point?" Grant was slow to catch on._

 _Zareen answered, "Maybe we're the two siblings. It says in the legend that the siblings will always reincarnate and be together because their love is just that great that not even the angels of heaven or the demons of hell can break them apart. Not even the Eastern religions can either!" Grant wasn't really grasping where she was going with this. She suddenly pulled out a needle and two lantern pendant necklaces. The lantern pendants were shaped like a round oil lantern and Zareen explained, "One is silver like your eyes and the other is gold like mine. We're going to make a blood pact that we're going to see each other again no matter what. In this life or the next!"_

 _Grant arched an eyebrow. "But if we're the siblings in the legend, do we have to? I'll take the necklace, but I'm not getting a disease out here to do your weird Koonish tradition."_

 _Zareen puffed out her cheeks, huffing at his cowardice, but he made a point. She put the needle back but handed Grant the golden lantern pendant. "Fine! But you better not lose this! I paid with my allowance to get it for you!"_

 _"Okay, I get it! You don't have to yell!" He put on the necklace as Zareen did, and they put up their pendants to each other. They were immediately magnetized to the other which lit them up. "Cool!" The two stared in awe at the starry light formed by their lanterns._

 _The rest of the camping trip was a lot of fun, but dread settled for the children once they had to leave. Grant and Zareen didn't hesitate to run away deep in the forest to spend time longer together. But their fathers were quick to find them since they were skilled soldiers and hunters after all. They kicked and yelled that they didn't want to go, and were both crying furiously in the car until they lied against each other, exhausted from tears._

 _They were reluctant to get out of the car, and held hands tightly as they made their way through the airport where Rosa and her lover was waiting for them. Once the adults were distracted, the children made a run for it again through the airport, using the crowd to their advantage. But with the added help of the security guards and their cameras they were found._

 _Zareen looked tearfully to Slade who she saw as a second father for her. The two met after Slade came back from one of his 'hunting trips'. She first noted that he looked a lot prettier than her father, Wintergreen, and that made the adults laugh. Grant corrected her that it wasn't prettier but 'handsomer', which made the adults softly chuckle as their laughter died down. Slade looked pleasantly surprised that Grant became fast friends with Wintergreen's recent adopted daughter._

 _Slade wanted to only spend time with Grant, but wherever the boy went, he insisted on Zareen coming because she needed to learn how to be a soldier, too. Both kids wanted to join the army like their dads. Unable to deny his son, he bought the both of them out camping for fishing and old war stories. When the kids were a bit older, he bought them to the gun range to learn how to handle their first real guns, just as Frannie helped him do at a young age so they could learn the difference between using it as a murder weapon and as a hunting tool. The difference between trying to instill power and to survive._

 _Him and Wintergreen would co-parent where they were off in exotic places together. Zareen and Grant joked about their dads being a better married couple than their own parents. The two snorted and laughed, and actually thought that that would be so much better. They respected their moms, but it was so much easier being with their dads since there was so much more understanding and love between all of them. Or so the children thought._

 _"Uncle Slade, don't do this." Zareen pleaded at that airport with Grant also putting up his best puppy eyes. Slade actually reconsidered, but Wintergreen, the far more stubborn one argued against it with a stern look. Slade tried, but no one else in the party was budging. He apologized to the kids, and they were disappointed, but they appreciated his efforts. Zareen gave him a hug with one arm while still holding onto Grant's sweating hand._

 _After that, everything was fine for a year where Zareen and Grant kept in touch, but after the Jackal Incident, the divorce took a toll on Grant that all connections stopped._

"She kept sending letter after letter, but I couldn't open them. I didn't want her letters. I wanted her by my side. I needed her..." Grant felt himself begin to freeze up when the other memories crept up on him.

Xander reassured him, "You don't have to tell me everything if you're not comfortable. Dad just dropped a huge bomb on you, and I understand that right now you're confused and scared. Who you thought you were is changing and you don't know if the you that you're changing into is someone you'll like or control. But I can tell you now that you are safe and you have time to heal here."

"Yeah, until dad's enemies or those lab people come." Grant darkly joked to knock over the tense atmosphere rudely.

Xander nodded. "But we're not alone in facing them. We're not alone anymore, Grant."

Grant didn't expect that response. It practically came clashing down on him like a waterfall, and the droplets fell down his cheeks. He scrunched his face, hoping to shut the tear ducts, but the water kept falling. Xander pulled Grant to his chest so he could cry freely while his own tears wet his hair.

* * *

The next day, Slade was on the porch, not moving from where he sat.

Grant stared at him from the dining table. He made the family pancakes and even served a dish for his dad. Camouflage explained, "He's been there since yesterday. You already know how your dad is. When he hits a problem, he falls deep into himself in silence, and will probably stay outside for the next few days even though it'll drop below negative for the next few nights."

"I know." Grant said, continuing to stare at his father. "Dad can be reckless, but he's never someone to do anything without reason. He won't say more than needs be, and he won't push himself onto others. I don't need some grandiose apology or display of affection. But I do want answers, and dad has been more than patient for me to ask them."

Camouflage arched an eyebrow, "You two definitely have an odd relationship, and honestly for the last month, I saw bits of the enraged chaotic first son, but for the most part, you've been really nice."

Grant sniggered, "And who did you hear that from? My dad? He hadn't seen me in almost a decade before I died, and only been able to get hearsay. And I deserved the rumors since I played the part of being the out-of-control angry son cuz I fuckin' hated Adeline and everyone associated with that bitch. And that overdramatic Uncle Wintergreen thought I was in one of those fuckin' dumb local teen gangs when I was just friends with them since they would hang out the same bar Zareen and I would..." His smile stayed but the brightness in it disappeared. The smile then drop when he decided to take the plate and walk outside.

He handed his father the plate, and Slade took it with a sincere thank you. Grant sat down beside him, and the two remained silent for nearly a half hour before Slade spoke, "I'm sorry Grant."

"For what?" He already knew, but figured his dad needed to speak now.

"For recently...reminding you of things you weren't prepared to remember. Triggering your PTSD when a soldier like myself should've known better. But I swear to you that it wasn't so I can earn brownie points with you so I could be forgiven for my neglectful attitude towards you when you were a child. Camouflage had been keeping an eye on your emotional stats, not manipulating it in anyway, and she saw you see Zareen in Xander..." He waited to see any reaction his son would have. Grant was silent, patient for the next sentence, and Slade gave him one, "I didn't want you to deceive yourself. Not only hurting yourself but also Xander. Someone I know you've come to love, but may be distorted."

Grant did a small teasing smile to the wilderness. "Thanks...Means a lot coming from the great Deathstroke the Terminator, but I would've liked it if my dad told me."

"...I wish for that, too." Slade admitted pleadingly. "But I don't know where to begin, Grant. I don't know what's the best way to apologize. I've been thinking for years when I'm alone with my own thoughts that if I ever got to meet you again of how could I make up for everything. For the lies and neglect. If only I had not been a fool, I wouldn't have lost custody of you and loose faith in myself to continue being the father you needed despite the divorce. If only I haven't told you about the Terminator or have been more forward with it, you wouldn't have made the rash decisions you did when the HIVE targeted you because of me. I tried to make things right by completing your contract. I told those involved that I did it to give you peace, but the truth is I did it to relieve the guilt I felt. Out of everyone's deaths, yours hit me the hardest Grant. And I take full responsibility as your father for the end you met, and will take any punishment you would deem me worthy of."

Grant looked at his father with a blank expression. "You really think I'm some psycho killer. That angry son set out to kill you." He looked away, laughing softly. "But I've never taken a life, but I made one hell of a Greek story out of mine. I made choices, dad, and became someone that you can't love."

"Don't be-"

"I ran away from home because my mind got so fucked up that I...I didn't do anything, but I felt something, thought of something so wrong that I needed to run away. And Zareen...helped me ignore it..." Grant stood up, and Slade stood up with him, not knowing what could possibly be so wrong with just a thought and a feeling when no action was made otherwise. "I don't want to lose you again, so please...just get to know the better side of me." He turned to his father, "Before I do."

"Grant, I don't understand...but, I won't push you to tell me. I want to be on this journey with you as well to have you see the better side of me, too."

The two hugged each other. Camouflage and Xander had been eavesdropping and the meta-human had been checking on everyone's well-being. Grant and Slade were fine, but Xander seemed nervous.

"Xander, are you alright?"

The boy looked up at her, worried that she may be looking into his mind. She reassured him that whatever he was thinking, she wasn't looking into it. Xander looked relieved for a split second before looking out again to see Grant telling their father that he was going to town. Xander unlocked the window and jumped out. "I'm coming, too!"

"Wait, you don't have your coat!" Camouflage called out, having her telekinesis give it.

"Thanks!" Xander put it on, and the two brothers were off again.

Camouflage locked the windows and went out the front door. "Huh. I guess Grant forgave you a long time ago. He's really different from how you described him."

"It's like he said, I only knew him through hearsay. When I think back to it, I was only ever told about the bad things that Grant had done, and I never questioned it because I blamed myself for his behavior. I'm a bigger fool than I believed myself to be."

"Yup." Camouflage shrugged. "I guess Grant's not that big of a moron after all, but I guess he can definitely get out of control when he isn't with you or this Zareen person. Xander acted weird earlier."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know. I didn't think it was appropriate to probe into his brain for answers. Maybe he'll open up to Grant about it."

Slade sighed. "I hope so. And I hope whatever secret Grant harbors that he can open up about it to either you or Xander to relieve him since Zareen isn't here."

"Maybe. I'll warm up you pancakes. Grant's a really great cook."

"He is."

* * *

Xander and Grant walked in silence for a few minutes before the older brother ruffled his little brother's hair. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"Nothing. Just...I don't know you." Xander confessed. "I mean, duh, we've only known each other for a month, and we're still figuring each other out because you, well, I mean I don't know if any of you want me in the end. And I'm just a kid with issues that I'm trying to control so I don't hold anyone back, but do I actually have a place here. Do you really want me, Grant? Or will I be something too hard for you to look at now that you remember this Zareen person." The boy stopped walking, holding his head down, prepared for rejection.

Grant knelled down in front of him, softly speaking to him, "Hey, hey, I'm not going to throw you away or use you. Yeah, at the beginning I didn't want you, but things changed. Things are different for me now that I don't want to be a mercenary like dad anymore. Losing Zareen..." Grant fell short of breath. He took a moment to gather himself to get to his point, "Not having dad around, and being treated like shit back home, I just couldn't see straight, even when I took pills for my depression. I was just filled with so much hatred and rage bound to burst. And it exploded into me trying to be the Terminator so I could forget the miserable SOB I was. But now, I have dad back, and I feel right at home when I'm with you, Xander. Being with you makes me feel whole just like how dad and Zareen did for me."

Xander felt his body tremble as the wind threatened to freeze his wet cheeks.

Grant hugged his little brother. "I promise you that after Camouflage fixes us, we'll go live somewhere nice, safe, and boring where dad's enemies can't find us so he and Camouflage can visit us from time to time. You'll go to school, and I'll work for the both of us at some construction site or the docks."

"You should be a cook or baker." Xander suggested, still shaky with happiness.

"Nah. I'll only make lunch, breakfast and dinner just for you, dad and Camouflage. I'll make the whole Christmas and Thanksgiving dinner. I'll decorate the fuck out of our house for Halloween and make chocolates for you for Valentines. We'll go to the best spot to see the fireworks in July and New Years. Take you on a road trip for the summer vacation." He leaned back, smiling up at Xander. "The lab might have made you for fucked up reasons, but in the grander scale of things, you were meant to be my little brother."

Xander felt his whole body collapse that he dropped his body on his big brother. Grant was more than happy to help his brother the rest of the way to town where they bought groceries.

When they got back, Camouflage noticed Xander's perked up mood, and figured that Grant did help him so everything we good. Slade and Grant locked eyes and the son spared his father a smile and told him what he was making for lunch, and that he had new plans for his future with Xander. Slade was more than happy to discuss that, but he was dreadfully filled with curiosity of what terrible secret Grant harbored.


	4. Chapter 4: Adeline

**Chapter 4: Adeline**

Camouflage always liked to make her therapy sessions take place in multiple locations in order to ignite certain emotions and memories. There wasn't that many comfortable ones back at the hospital that didn't require her to use her powers to brighten up a room or to mute their words to surrounding ears.

Now that the family had relocated to a secluded cabin, she made use of the private walks in the winter forest, and having a therapy room in the cabin. In the room, she had the classic sofa chair and chaise lounge chair with a large window to give the room a spacious illusion. She would light up incense on the table in front of her and then put a pitcher of water and different cups down. She would have her phone playing emotionally sweet music, but then turn it off once her session begins.

Slade was going to teach Xander self-defense, so Camouflage figured she could have a conversation with Grant in that room. There was a lot to talk about, though she assured the teen, "I'm not going to ask you about your terrible secret. That's completely up to you and your dad to talk about. For us though, we've been trying really hard to regain the memories of the lab. But it looks like most of your memories reside outside of it, and mostly with a certain person in particular, that you have a traumatic memory block for, just like you did with Zareen."

Grant sat at the side of the lounge chair to face her with his back straight and a light sarcastic smile on his lips, "Yeah, and you won't do any movie stunts with my head since it'll fuck me more up with delirium or some shit like that."

Camouflage confirmed, "Yeah." She slouched on her chair as a means to quit the professionalism and get down to, "So when are you going to tell your dad about how Adeline mistreated you?"

Grant scoffed, "Wow, first time I ever heard someone actually think that bitch mistreated me."

"You're talking to an abused child from a mother with a demented mind. And I don't need to use my powers to know you and I are the same SOBs. I don't know Adeline, and Slade can praise her all he wants, but I can see through you the truth that she's not that great to begin with."

Grant smirked, "Knew I could be real with you for a reason." The man shook his head. "Everyone paints Adeline up to be this perfect person because she raised Joe and ran her own business, but deep down she's nothing but a vile, selfish bitch who'd throw her own son away when she, SHE isn't comfortable. I did nothing wrong, but that didn't matter. I was dad's son, and to that bitch, I was the devil spawn. As if Joe didn't come out of dad's balls, too!" The man scoffed again, smiling in his growing hatred, and that smile quickly dropped with his brows. "I was never told the truth! Come home to a cranky divorced whore and a fuckin' mute! Just told that dad was responsible and he was never coming back. I was fuckin' nine! How the fuck did she expect me to take the news! But of course she expected my reaction and just wanted to cast me aside like some nuisance. I was too shocked that I couldn't focus on school and began talking back at anyone because I wanted nothing but answers."

Camouflage nodded along while Grant stared at the floor, his own mind racing with memory after memory.

He continued, "What's the point of telling dad? He'll just chuck it all up as his own fault, but that's not true. A mom isn't supposed to hate her child, and I didn't deserve it. But at the time, I thought I did. I thought the divorce was my fault, and that's why I was hated by not only her but her people and that grew into me believing Frannie, Max, Uncle Wintergreen and everyone else in the world hated me, too. I felt like the person that Zareen was sending letters to was gone so I just threw all of them in a box in the back of my closet. I became irritated and depressed as time went by. Got kicked out of school and forced to stay home cuz Adeline didn't believe she could trust me to behave in society. She told me that I needed to shape up and stop feeling sorry for myself as if I'm supposed to figure that out myself, and then accuse me of just being a lazy bum when I literally had nothing worthwhile to do. I had no one to talk to or anywhere to go."

"Oh gawd, fuck her! Did she keep Joe away from you?"

Grant huffed at such an easy question. "Adeline would always tell him in earshot that he should stay away from me as if I'm one of those child perverts. Joe would approach me anyway when she wasn't looking, and I'd just get angry like he was some stupid hunter getting into my territory. Her people or that bitch would push me away and reprimand me. Adeline would full on slap me right across the face, yelling that I was no different than my father, and lock me in the room to rot."

"You have got to be kidding me! How did she even let you get back into school again? Slade told me you got yourself expelled and then ran away to New York."

"It took...work." Grant smiled but it looked strained between a soft laugh and a hard frown. "Three years of work that was literally both a bliss and a hell."

"Heading into dark secret territory?" Camouflage asked lightly, straightening herself.

Grant was silent for a moment before answering, "No. It kinda relates to it, but no...Uhm, I'm not proud of it. Hell, I don't blame the younger me, but if I actually did it, I can't imagine what it would've done to dad and Zareen. Hell, I almost got my dad killed because of my fucked up head. And Zareen always cried when I got hurt. She loved me that much even when we haven't seen each other in like eight years, and..."

"Grant...are you referring to...suicide?" The teen tried to say lightly as possible to not trigger him.

The older man took a deep breath and nodded. "It shouldn't be surprising. The mansion was a prison, and I began to get paranoid that Adeline's people were set out to kill me for Adeline whether she commanded it or not. I never ate food with her or Joe. I always made my own food, and ate alone. I created my own laundry machine and dried it in my bathroom. I forbade anyone from coming in, and used my dresser to keep the door shut at night. Put a stick and rubberband on my window to keep it shut. I only went out to the backyard if I had a gun or any weapon in my hand."

"That's not healthy."

"No. I was too stressed out, depressed out of my fuckin' mind, and felt myself rot away that I began planning my suicide. A single gunshot to the head should've done it." Grant put his hand up as if he was holding a gun to his head. "Bam. But I wanted to send a message. At least something to let my dad know I did this because I was in pain, that I suffered. A gunshot to the head may just make me look reckless. Drowning in a bathtub would make me look stupid. Cutting myself was cliche'. Hanging myself sounded like the best option, but it might actually not kill me if something goes wrong, so I figured that I should drug myself as my backup plan because that would definitely send the message that I really wanted to die."

"You suuure this is not the dark secret because it's getting pretty dark right now." Camouflage was a bit freaked out by how methodical Grant sounded.

Grant laughed as if he was telling a joke. "No..." He looked out the window, mind racing back to the height of his memories that gave a meaning for all he went through. "It took time to get some drugs. I needed to hurt myself without making it look self-inflicted, so I could be sent to the hospital and not a psychiatry facility. I figured easy way was to fall down the stairs. Or shoot myself in the foot. But those plans got thrown out when Max died, and I didn't get to go to his funeral because Adeline didn't want me seeing dad. Frannie had to visit and break the news to me. I begged her to take me away, but she wasn't any help either. I wanted to tell her that I planned to commit suicide if she didn't, but she already lost Max. I couldn't do that to her. But when she left, I truly believed as a kid that my life was over. Frannie and Uncle Wintergreen were tough but they were getting old. If they died before I could finally get off the custody policy bullshit, who's going to tell me? What if dad or Zareen died, too, and I can't go to their funeral? I didn't want to grow up and discover that everyone who actually loved me was gone. I didn't want to be left behind. I was too anxious to die before them to stop the pain."

Camouflage got off her seat to sit next to him. He touched Grant's shaking hands gently yet firmly to help them stay in place. "But what helped calm you down?"

Grant took a deep breath, putting pressure in his own hands to remain still before he replied, "...Nothing...But I was saved by my tutor. Her name was...Hyun-ae Phan. Half-Korean. Half-Vietnamese. Phan became my tutor when I was suicidal, and I didn't give her the time of day to do any work since I figured I was going to die anyway. She tolerated my attitude and drove me to a hiking trail that led to a place to do rock climbing. I was out of breath since it's been maybe a year since I did any normal exercise that didn't involve panicking for my life. She helped me through it, and praised me before we climbed back down and went to a gym to get a shower. We had packed an extra set of clothes to change into, so we just went straight to the circus afterwards." Grant smiled, "I was chuckling at the clowns hitting each other with those glass movie props."

The smile faded as Grant continued, "I was still on the fritz about her because I considered her as one of Adeline's people, but during the two years she tutored me, she always helped calm me down from the anxiety I felt again and again in that mansion. I still planned and considered suicide back then, but she put me off of actually doing anything until I was twelve when Max died. My anxiety was out of control and I began acting insane. She had to drag me out of the tub when I decided to cut myself like an amateur."

Things got silent for a moment until a memory made Grant look like he was about to laugh, but his rage cooled the warmth of the room. "Once I was stitched up at the hospital, Phan told Adeline about it, and got fired because she didn't approve of Adeline's military approach to have me pushed around like some soldier to get disciplined. And I'm honestly not surprised because Adeline is not a good mom."

Camouflage was about to say something, but Grant kept going, "Joe only became such a walking success because he was obedient. He was the easy child. The person Adeline could mold while I wasn't. I challenged her authority since I was born, and she didn't know how to handle it, so shoved me to dad since he had a fuckin' clue. Adeline didn't because she only knew how to discipline adults and that involved working them to the ground, scolding them to make them feel inferior so they wouldn't question her superiority, never taking responsibility for their failure because they had to meet her standards, and when push comes to shove where at that moment when I needed someone to keep me together, her response was to break me."

The room fell silent. Camouflage looked to the door and she silently sighed.

"I didn't attempt a second suicide because before that mess, Phan had called in favors and had all of my papers ready for this boarding military school far away. Adeline only visited me once in the hospital to make sure I was alive, and I was half-asleep at the time, but I swear I heard her straight up complaining that it's been already two years so why couldn't I just get over dad and make things easier for her. After I got cleared out from the hospital, I didn't have to stay at home long since I had to go to the school's opening ceremony, so I left after one night. I still had to go home for the holidays but I wasn't as suicidal since Phan and I kept in contact."

That sounded like the end of things, and Camouflage was uncomfortable, but not because of his confession. "Grant, I'm sorry. I didn't want to disturb you, but it looks like Slade and Xander just almost walked in when you began talking about Phan's firing."

Grant's eyes widened but he did not dare look to the door. Xander spoke from the door, "I'm sorry. We didn't mean to eavesdrop, but we beeped that we were coming in. Sorry, we didn't think you wouldn't hear it. We're sorry." The boy held his head down, hoping to not be scolded but Grant didn't say anything.

Camouflage instead asked, "Why did you have to intrude our talk?"

Xander took a moment to remember. "Oh, uhm, there's a garden preserved from the snow at the next town over. We thought it would be the best place to try and get Grant to remember his past mission. But...We'll leave." He awkwardly closed the door.

Camouflage apologized, "I'm sorry. I heard the beep, but you kept going, and I didn't have it in me to stop you." She lied. She actually wanted Slade to hear everything at its most honest. Grant was still silent and Camouflage left him to his thoughts.

The teen saw Slade mindlessly walking out to the porch and taking a seat at the steps, leaving the chill into the cabin. Camouflage sensed Xander in his own room with Cutthroat Sally Wednesday on his lap as he began painting his sceneries. She closed the front door and sat next to Slade.

"So there you have it. The woman you loved so much was actually a horrible mother to the son you favored. I'm sure you're making excuses for her, but Adeline knew he was hurting. She knew that he needed someone, and it took a stranger to come to her, not the other way around, for him to have that. But even with this stranger, Grant already suffered so much neglect and abuse to the point of actually meticulously planned his suicide. Only to throw his plans away to take the easy route." Camouflage paused and Slade didn't say anything, so she continued, "I know you hate hearing anyone badmouth her, but it's about time you realize that she also held responsibility for the death of your sons...especially for Grant's."

Slade immediately questioned, "What do you mean by that?"

Camouflage took a deep breath. "Remember when you had me check into Searchers' Inc.'s files and past workers in order to find a clue into who may have taken Grant's body? I learned something that I knew you should've known, but y'know...you've been through so much with Rose at the time, and after what we had to do to Bludhaven..." Camouflage shook herself away from those memories to get to topic at hand. "Before I can tell you, I need you to agree with me that if you're going to hold yourself responsible for the death of your sons, Adeline should and should've shared that responsibility. The HIVE went after Grant because of you, but Adeline..." She quickly changed the subject, "She allowed Joe to become a Titan and that led to his own demise. You just helped him get out of it."

"Why did you stop with Grant's example?" Slade pushed for an answer.

"It'll change everything, Slade. It'll change how you see Adeline, and if it doesn't, it may ruin all the progress between you and Grant."

"Then let's know at this moment of truth." Grant stepped out. "Adeline knew that the HIVE was aiming for me, didn't she."

"Gra-"

"DIDN'T SHE! I've been trying to connect the dots since Zareen's death! Zareen shouldn't have died in that hospital! I shielded her as best as I could, and took most of the bullets and yet here I am!" The man's eyes reddened by the restraint he put on his own tear ducts.

Camouflage grimaced at her situation, yet confessed, "She knew since the beginning. Years prior to your death, Adeline had been trying to take down HIVE. She had a spy in the organization who informed her about HIVE's plan to get Deathstroke involved in taking down the Justice League through you. But then the Teen Titans were made so plans sped up to take care of them. You'd think something like that would have her full attention, but she wasn't actually that involved in the mission to protect you at all. That kind of apathetic attitude honestly made everyone else working on this mission believe that you were sacrificial for the sake of taking down HIVE. In fact unknown to Adeline, they helped the HIVE kill Zareen to push you into their clutches so that Deathstroke could take down the HIVE without them getting their hands dirty. In a way...they succeeded because the HIVE faced heavy losses because of your dad, and it wasn't that difficult afterwards for the Teen Titans to take down the original HIVE."

Camouflage could feel the utter rage coming from both of them. She jumped when Slade rose up being the first one to burst, "SHE BLAMED ME! ADELINE PUT THE WHOLE BLAME ON ME! I guess she thought so since she didn't bother to give a damn about getting involved at all or looking in a mirror! I can't believe I loved her! I guess love truly made you blind! And her hatred made her feel justified for her selfishness, and that's what she has always been! Selfish! Talk about hypocritical!"

Slade wanted to kill something to ease the rage and shameful stupidity he felt. Yet what did drive it away was Grant hugging him from behind. He turned around to hug the boy he stupidly abandoned him in the clutches of a mad woman. No matter what he was going through at that time, if he knew the torture his son would be in, he wouldn't have hesitated to save him. Grant was his boy. His world.

Camouflage was relieved that the two came together instead of apart. She honestly wasn't sure of Slade's reaction of Adeline's actions since the man truly loved her, but it looked like love truly had a limit. She walked back in to find Xander still in his room. She knocked on the door, and it was opened by a scared Xander. She reassured him that everything was fine, and told him of what just happened at his bed.

Xander was glad to hear that his brother and dad worked things out sooner than expected. He smiled with his cheek against his stuff animal.

Camouflage commented, "You're really attached to her, huh."

Xander squeezed Cutthroat Sally Wednesday. "Thank you for giving me her. She's been really helpful in chasing away the dreams. She would always barge in like king kong on a rampage and scare them all away. Although that might actually not help us in figuring out the organization."

"It's alright. At this point, we might actually put that on hold, and probably wait prepared for an opportunity. You two need our exclusive attention to forget the organization and start living your regular lives so I'll stop those type of sessions."

Xander didn't say anything. His relieved expression said enough.


	5. Chapter 5: Phan

**Chapter 5: Phan**

Grant sat next to his father on the porch, reminiscing the better memories of the past. Camouflage and Xander joined them with hot coacoa. Grant took a sip, smiling a bit at the warmth he felt in the cold. Yet he couldn't help commenting to his father, "You still love Adeline don't you."

Slade sighed. "What can I say? She's still you and Joe's mother, and trust me, my love is only from gratitude at this point, and I still hold myself the most responsible for everything that went wrong with our family and with Zareen, Grant. There was a time when Adeline did properly love you. There was a time when she was admirable, but at this point, even if she is no longer with us, I'm not so sure forgivable." He sipped his drink.

Grant took a sip of his own. "Yeah with how she treated me and then put all the blame on you when neither of you really knew the fucked up things that were planned for me. But at least you were honest, dad. At least you did something about it while she looked away. Honestly, I wish I could blame her for Zareen's death. Think that if only she hadn't had her people watching me, we could've had a fighting chance that day...But it's because I decided to be with her, she got involved."

"Don't think that." Slade wrapped his arm around him and placed his hand on his cheek to have his son look at him. The young man's grayish blue eyes sadly focusing on the unwavering ones of his father's. "You didn't know and you did everything you could. If you think I am forgivable for everything I've done, then you are leagues ahead of me in that department. You are a good man, Grant. You've never taken a life, never ruined one, and Zareen always believed that you made the best of hers. She would see no need to forgive you, and instead hopes that you can live happily."

Grant couldn't help tearing up. "I bet Adeline called her death a damn casuality." He breathed raggedly. "She didn't have the right. Her people didn't have the right."

"I know." Slade held his son close. "I know."

"They called her a terrorist." Grant almost choked. "I can't forgive them. I can't forgive Adeline."

"Neither can I..." Slade felt the little bits of love he had for the woman disintegrate. "Neither can I..."

Slade held Grant until he had grown tired from crying. The family went back in and set Grant at the couch. Xander gave him Cutthroat Sally to help him feel better, and Grant accepted it. Then Camouflage with Xander's help made dinner while Slade further Grant's knowledge of the present world to put his mind off of earlier.

Once dinner was served, everyone including Cutthroat Sally sat down and enjoyed themselves.

"I want to know more about this Phan person." Xander said. "Is she still around?"

Slade surprisingly answered, "She should be. She's immortal." The kids got confused, so he explained, "It may come to you as a shock, Grant, but I actually know the Hyun-ae Phan you're talking about. I knew her since before I met Wintergreen, but at the same country: Korea. Whenever Vietnam or Korea was facing a war or something similar, she would provide her services for translations, spying and more. She was on the US side during the Korean War since she didn't favor the Soviet Union at the time, but she never fought for the politics. It was always about the people. She told me that if she were to live for a millennia, then her history will definitely be a story of her trying her hardest to protect her countries, even from itself."

"She sounds really pleasant. How did she become immortal?" Xander inquired.

The father told the story, "She's not so sure herself. What I can tell you is that she was born during the 1800s, and her family had moved from Vietnam to England for her education. Hyun-ae was born a man with the name Chin-Mae Phan. She took on a degree related to history, which landed her a job with a rich boy playing archaeologist. She followed him with a crew to Brazil to loot through one of their ghost towns. There, they came upon an underground maze that was disjointed by the plentiful earthquakes, so they made use of their rock climbing equipment to get through the maze. However, it was laid with traps. Long story short, Phan was the only one to reach the end, only to find herself facing the Pacific Ocean. She struggled to climb the cliff and fell to her death many times on the rocks below, but would wake up alive and healed, repeating that cycle until she reached the top of the cliff. Since then, she had watched herself not age or fall sick."

"You sound like you knew her pretty well." Camouflage commented with a knowing tone.

Slade chuckled, "Phan and I were lovers and had been for four years before I went to Camp Washington and met your mother. Her swearing was what got my attention in the first place. It made me curious of who she was, so I approached her for a conversation when we weren't training or doing missions on the field and we were immediately taken by the other. I was joshed on relentlessly by my comrades to be a tranny lover, but I didn't care. I was more interested in her ideas and adventures. She was vivacious, motherly and one hell of a strategist. If not for her, then the US wouldn't have won South Korea. When Wintergreen met her, he thought the same, and we agreed on the reverse for Vietnam."

"She fought for the other side?" Xander inquired.

"She fought for her own country, but even though we were on opposing sides, we didn't fight." Slade fondly recollected, "There was a bloody confrontation, and my men were outnumbered, so I ordered them to flee to camp while I drew their fire away from them. I called in an airstrike, and got caught flying from the blast due to my leg being shot so I couldn't outrun it. I limped through the jungle with thoughts filled with both survival and hope that my men was able to reach camp. A few days later, I came across a village where Phan was protecting the villagers with her own troop of soldiers. She ordered her men down, and didn't raise her weapon against me and I didn't against her. Her men and people were outraged since a group of American troops had raided a village like animals recently. Hearing that made my blood run cold and sick to my stomach, and I hated myself for the fact that I wasn't shocked."

"Anyone who knows how dirty the government and military is wouldn't be." Grant said. "Your own superior tried to get you killed on the fuckin' battlefield cuz you pissed him off, the government tricked you into some meta-human experiment cuz they knew you wouldn't do it if you knew the risks were higher, and then the asshole superior tried to kill off Uncle Wintergreen for saving you."

Xander tilted his head to the side in confusion. "Then why would you fight for them?"

Slade answered, "It's the way of the world, Xander. Though someone cries for peace and such, a single man's ambition can manipulate thousands to slaughter and enslave billions. If someone will give out an order, it might as well be given to someone capable of doing the job without doing the atrocities of what that separate military group had done in Vietnam. I've seen mercenaries explode a building filled with innocent people just to get to a single target when a single bullet could've done the job. I've seen superiors punish those who try to take the more peaceful route. I fought for my country for its ideals, and though I'm forced to create bloodshed, I want it to be the blood of my enemies and fellow warriors. Not the blissfully ignorant."

Xander's silver eyes seemed to shimmer at his father.

Slade continued the story, "Phan was able to convince her people that I wasn't like those soldiers, so I was allowed to recuperate there until I could use my leg again. Nothing happened between the two of us during that duration of time since I was married to Adeline and prior to that, rejected by Phan. See, a year before Camp Washington, I actually proposed to Phan despite her immortality. Selfishly hoping to live a life with her until my old days because I truly did love her, but because of said immortality, she reluctantly rejected and hoped that I could find someone else to fall in love with. And I did, and she congratulated me. She seemed truly happy for me."

Grant asked, "Did you two still stay in touch after the whole war thing blew over?"

"Yes, but mostly in letters. Phan, just as she had in Korea, remained in Vietnam to help rebuild it after the war finally ended. I had met her a couple of times when I became Deathstroke, and I had taken a mission in Vietnam or places that she had traveled to in order to buy supplies or to protect an important government member."

"So wait, she got to know that you were Deathstroke and Adeline didn't?" The son arched an inquisitive eyebrow at his father.

"It was never truly a secret. I wouldn't have minded sharing with Adeline, but I did hide it since I thought that it was just a secret harmless hobby of mine. Many husbands had one of those, except mine came with consequences that costed all of us."

Xander asked, "Did Adeline know about Phan?"

"Not exactly. She asked me if I had any past girlfriends, and I told her that I did have one for four years and proposed to her, only to be completely rejected due to her special condition. Adeline didn't bother to ask more than that."

Grant snorted, "Cuz that sounded like you were trying to marry some poor girl that sounded like she had cancer. But did you really not know that she was my nanny and stuff?"

"Not at all. Phan and I began losing touch when I slipped myself deeply into my work as Deathstroke after the divorce, but she knew how much you meant to me Grant. Every time we met, I would always ended up talking about you the most. Showing her pictures, videos and more, and she was always happy to see them."

"That explains why she knew my favorite snacks and movies. I thought she just did some detective work on me before seeing me to get on my good side."

Slade warmly smiled a small one at the good memories. "I guess she heard about the divorce from either Frannie or Wintergreen or maybe even Max, and went to check up on you since I lost custody of you."

Grant continued, "And saw what a miserable bastard I was so decided to become my tutor who would stay for two weeks or even longer before leaving for a week to be on business. Max died while she was away, and I guess when she heard the news, she wanted Frannie to break it to me first before..." Grant dropped that conversation and instead mentioned, "She never told me that she knew you."

Camouflage reasoned, "Considering that you were anxious to be with your dad, she might've known that you would've tried to use her to get you to run away."

"And I wasn't in a condition to take care of you Grant after what happened." Slade added. "And Phan couldn't take you away due to her own lifestyle. I'm surprised she had the time to become your tutor for three years."

"Maybe we can go ask her." Xander suggested. "I mean she's alive right. And she loves Grant, so it's only right that you tell her that you are."

Yet Slade told him, "Problem is that we can't. Phan is a master of disguise and is as much of an expert in magic and science. She doesn't let anyone find her unless she wants you to."

"Buuuuuut," Camouflage pointed out, "I can find her."

"No." Slade stomped the suggestion down. "If I could then I won't allow you to expand your powers like that again. Our last mission nearly killed you! You're lucky to be alive and functional!"

"I am, and it won't stop me from doing it again. I know I don't act confident with my abilities but if you need me, I will try my best because I trust you and we're family at this point, Slade. I'm practically a weird relative to them now." She gestured her hands to the sons.

"Definitely the weird foreign cousin that got adopted." Grant joked, making Xander giggle.

Slade's face was blank, but the kids who have been paying close attention for the last three months knew that he was deeply worried. Yet he was fair, "Do what you want, Camouflage...Just don't push it."

The teen smiled. "It's alright. It's just one person instead of this big evil secret organization. But I better be lying down for this," Dinner had already been eaten, and Grant volunteered to wash them. "So I'll be in my room."

Slade sat up with Camouflage and followed her to her room to make sure she knew exactly what she was doing. The teen gave him flippant comfort words as she got comfortable on her bed and closed her eyes.

Xander whispered to Grant as they cleaned the table, "Big evil secret organization?"

The older brother shrugged, "Sounds like it's as bad as the big evil secret organization that took me and made you, but we can ask questions later. More interested in knowing where my former nanny is. Her and dad were definitely lovers."

"What was she like as your tutor?"

Grant didn't miss a beat with a huge grin on his face, "One of the best you will ever meet, but howled like a banshee when someone ticked her off. You wouldn't want to catch her during road rage! She could swear you down a table, and her voice would get really deep and passionate while her face would contort into this really devilish look! It almost made me pee my pants as a kid and it was fuckin' awesome!"

Xander's eyes lit up at the excitement he hadn't heard in Grant's voice before. He eagerly asked, "Did she bring you to Vietnam and Korea?"

"Hell yeah! She let me travel the world like dad did! Trips to Vietnam were always the most fun and the best therapy for my depression because she taught me the local guerrilla warfare that was used during the Vietnam war and trained me in other forms of combat and spy work. But I had to hide my American identity since scars from the war were still fresh from all the chemicals and bloodshed the US did to it. If I had been older to know more about the war, I might've actually been part of the silent majority since I idolized dad for fighting in it. But after visiting and seeing the evidence of the stories I heard, America should have never entered that war."

"Are you against it?"

Grant softly smirked as they began washing the dishes, "It's weird coming from the proud son of a soldier, but yeah. After seeing mom's, I mean Phan's home country building itself from a war they won with so little to build with, it made me realize I didn't want to be a soldier anymore..." The memories became more vivid in Grant's mind, though they felt like dreams.

Xander thought it was fine to continue talking since Grant did seem to look like he was in pain. They had already finished the dishes, but they continued to stand by the sink. "Are you against what dad is doing, then? Being Deathstroke?"

"Not at all." Grant didn't hesitate to answer. "Just cuz I don't want to be a soldier, doesn't mean I see the whole army as being evil. There are soldiers who do good, soldiers who want to do bad, and those who just do what they're told. Dad's not the cleanest soldier, but I know he's better than most. While the world will call him a killer, I know better that he's an executioner."

"There's a difference?" The former consistently murdered lab experiment inquired.

"You have to put it into context for it to make sense. An executioner is a killer, but it is a sub-category of what a killer is. I'm not going to delve deep into that and make this complicated. The one thing to know is that most other sub-categories of a killer do it for their own personal justifications or it may have been an accident, but with dad, it's not an accident but it's also nothing personal. It's just business. Back in the old days with emperors and kings, they had executioners who would do as they were told towards the condemned. The executioners aren't doing it for themselves, they are doing it just because they are ordered."

Xander furrowed his brows a bit at that. "But what if the condemned are actually good people?"

Slade exited the room to answer for himself, "That's an incident that I'm proud to say that I haven't found myself in since I'm thorough with my work. What Grant said holds some truth. Yes, as Deathstroke I do as I am ordered, but unlike the old executioners of the emperors and kings, I chose my clients and dictated the terms of how the executions were carried out since I am no artist. Before this whole hero fiasco with the Justice League and Titans, I was the best mercenary and assassin who would only take down scums of the Earth which ranged from nefarious gangsters to international terrorists. I did not take on missions that required me to kill vigilantes or heroes unless circumstances required me to, but thankfully hadn't been an issue over a decade ago."

Grant knew what his father was referring to, but kept his mouth shut to let the father educate.

"So you were kind of a hero back then?" Xander didn't feel right saying those words.

Slade corrected, "You should know better that heroes and villains is a concept that we don't believe in considering who our father was." Grant's ears perked up to that, but his father spoke over that subject, obviously not comfortable speaking of that past right now. The son let him be to continue, "I don't do my work for the sake of good or for others, with my family and friends being an exception. I simply do it because it is what I am good at. It is what I was built into becoming, and I thrive in it with pleasure after a successful job. It is simply common sense to not fling gas in a forest fire when you have love ones who thrive in this world with you."

Xander's brows furrowed more as he thought about what he was told, and he seemed to be able to process it. "I guess that does make you better than that man."

Slade looked doubtful. What father let his whole family die? What father manipulated his daughter into a killer and tried to kill his son again?

Grant softly scoffed at his expression, but didn't speak up since they've been over this already, and his father wasn't a forgetful man. The son just had to be patient with his father since Slade was a canyon that needed to be chipped away with time to be convinced, and Grant wasn't going to let up in making sure this man knew he still deserved to be loved as a father. He patted Xander's head. The boy looked up to see a kind playful smile added with a warm gaze from him. The boy seemed to immediately get the message and ran over to Slade to put his arms around the man. Slade was startled out of his thoughts and properly looked down at Xander. The boy stared at him expectantly, and Slade immediately understood what he wanted. He petted the boy's head, knelled down and gave him a hug with a kiss to his cheek. Xander flushed up by the affectionate attention. Slade remembered doing this with his boys, which made him hold Xander a little tighter and firmer.

"I found her!" Camouflage exclaimed from her room before groaning.

Slade was quick to head to her room. "Are you alright?!"

"Emotionally and mentally? Perfectly fine. Physically? A bit worn out but I'll rejuvenate after a day of rest. Nothing to worry about."

Slade still grimaced at her weary face. Xander and Grant came in. The boy asking, "So do you know where Phan is?"

The teen answered, "Yeah, but it's gonna get interesting. So Phan was protecting the child of an important government official in New York City, and tricked the assassins into believing she had the kid in the subway when she actually had a puppet-like android. A fight broke out that dragged her and the android off the train, and deep into some weird passages that led to a place called Limbo town."

"Limbo Town?" Grant had lived in New York City for a year with Zareen and the girl said nothing about some underground town.

Camouflage had images appear in their minds to make it easier as she explained to them that the town was some sort of puritanical world that used black magic, especially necromancy, and fear the upper world that they called 'the blue rafters'. Klarion the Witch Boy was the only publicly known citizen of such a place, but the Peter Pan wizard wasn't conservative like them.

She then told them about how they destroyed the android and the killers, but were unable to kill her, so instead put her into a deep sleep and buried her underground. It's been a month since then.

"A month?!" Slade's and Grant's faces dropped at the news.

"She's still fine." Camouflage told them. "The spell they put on her is similar to the Sleeping Beauty spell. She'll remain in a constant state of health and beauty until the spell breaks."

"By true love's kiss?" Xander asked with twinkling eyes.

Camouflage ruffled his hair. "No. Though these blue guys used black magic, I can use my psychic abilities to work through it...I think. I mean I have to be able to touch her head in order to really delve into her mind and get her to try to use willpower to set her free. I mean that's how true love's kiss breaks the spell right? Emotional jump starts. Anyway, if I can't, Slade can just kiss her, or we'll go the millennial way and get Grant to give her a platonic kiss on the forehead. It might work."

Slade and Grant looked to each other, not exactly believing in any of this fairytale talk, but knowing the right course of action next. The father secured a cargo plane to take to New York City while Grant and Xander prepared the supplies for the trip. Camouflage remained in bed to rest for the rest of the day. They moved out the next night.


	6. Chapter 6: New York Blues and Koonish

**Chapter 6: New York Blues and Koonish**

Camouflage told them that the best plan to take was to sneak in when all the citizens of Limbo town were having their church service that would go on for an hour so it'll be easier for them to do the rescue mission. But that was to be a week later, so she figured they could spend that week not only refining their plans but to have Xander explore there.

But there was one very important stop that they needed to be at first: Grant's grave next to Zareen's.

Arriving at the cemetery, Grant stared at the two gravestones with immense disbelief and clarity. His legs were weighted by led, and his heart was pulled by the anchor of his fear. But he walked anyway until he was right before them. He found it hard to breathe as the tears fell down. He found it hard to love when he felt self-loath for himself. He thought that there was nothing that could ease his pain, but his observant eyes took note of something that made him smile.

Slade, Camouflage, and Xander stayed a good distance away from Grant, so he could cry in peace.

"Shouldn't you stay?" Xander asked Slade with watery eyes. "You loved her, too, didn't you?"

Slade somberly told him, "I do. She was my best friend's daughter. Frankly, the only daughter of his who wasn't even his blood that I knew personally. And because of that, because of me, both of the-"

"Because of others, too, two brave souls that felt complete with you and Grant by their side died without too much regret. Wintergreen's journals thanked you time and time again for the life you gave him, even if he knew it'd end in disaster because he felt the most alive and free with you. And I have no doubt by the endless letters Grant told me that Zareen sent that she felt the same. Adopted for a charity case, but discovered a boundless loving friendship with your son. And you didn't take that away. Grant knows that, and if you don't believe me, stay here and let him tell you."

Camouflage took Xander's hand and they walked away from him. Slade watched them go and then looked to Grant who was on his knees before her grave. His heart broke at the sight.

 _"Dad! Dad!" a seven-year-old Zareen ran over to Slade with Grant to show their knife throwing scores. The three with Wintergreen were traveling through Africa without much technology. This was no problem for the kids since they were more interested in getting rough and dirty anyway._

 _"Yes, yes, I'm very proud of the both of you. Looks like Grant learned pretty quick on how to handle the weapon but Zareen was able to aim better with it."_

 _"That's only because I taught her how!" Grant pointed out defensively._

 _"So the student had surpassed the teacher, eh?"_

 _"I'm still a better shooter!"_

 _Zareen giggled. The two kids went back to playing._

 _Wintergreen sighed. "Why doesn't my own daughter call me 'Dad'. She calls me 'Pops' or 'Wintergreen'. Your son is a terrible influence." The man joked._

 _Slade smirked softly. "Look at it this way. It's as if we had our own child." He joked naughtily getting a grimace from Wintergreen, making the mercenary inwardly laugh._

Those were the good old days before eleven years later when the two friends had to show up at her funeral. Slade sat in disguise at the back of the church so his own son wouldn't see him. Grant didn't need to be enraged during that day of all days. His own heart broke at the sight of his son being miserable. Wintergreen tried to console him, but Grant was unresponsive.

 _Later that night, Slade snuck into his sons's apartment to see how he was doing. He found him lying on his couch, still fully clothed with his shoes on. His son's eyes were wide open as he stared at the ceiling._

 _Unable to leave him in this state, he approached him, letting his son see him after nine years of disappearance. Grant didn't flinch from his appearance. He just glanced at him, took a good, hard, long look before staring at the ceiling again._

 _"Grant," Slade tried, voice soft and careful. "You need to change and go to bed. C'mon son. I'll help you."_

 _Grant swallowed before letting out a puff of air as if he was supposed to laugh but it came out wrong. His face showed signs of his glass self about to shatter again but he was keeping himself in place by not moving or thinking too hard. Trying to keep things simple. "Dad..." He ached in pain, but he moved forward, "I don't know if it's you or not, but don't leave. Not tonight at least. Don't leave me."_

 _Slade held back his tears by how his son pleaded desperately with what little strength he had. Only grasping onto hope that this man before him, even as an illusion, would not abandon him. He softly reassured him, "Alright. I won't leave. Just for tonight." He wanted to stay for longer than that. At least until Grant wasn't alone, but Slade looked back at himself. He remembered the Jackal Night vividly, and how it revealed the type of man he let himself become. The type who could not console others when he was the problem to begin with. He didn't want to make things worse for his son by putting him in danger. But he will do whatever he could from afar so Grant didn't get hurt._

 _He picked up Grant as if he was the little three-year-old boy he carried to bed when he knocked out from too much playing. He lied him down, helped him out of his shoes and clothes to get comfortable, and then took a seat beside the bed. The cool softness of the bed lulled Grant to sleep, but anxiety kept him at bay from the tranquil darkness. Slade helped by holding onto his hand. This touch alerted Grant of how real it felt, but the gentle, firm grip told him that this wasn't a bad thing. He didn't have to worry. He could lull to sleep and so he did._

 _Slade remained there throughout the rest of the night until the sun rose and light broke through the window. He kissed Grant on the forehead, whispering to him, "I love you, Grant." Before slipping away through the window._

In the present, Slade wished he had done everything different, but knew better that changing things won't always result for the better. For the present, Slade chose to embrace the opportunities now. He had Grant. He had Camouflage. He had Xander. And he was to reconnect with Phan after a long while. He didn't know where any of this was going. He felt apprehension which was nothing new, and he felt that he should heed it, but not by running away. Instead he would stay by his children's side this time.

He approached Grant, getting on his knees beside him before Zareen's grave. Grant was praying in Koonish with his fists on his lap. When it ended, they both stood up and Grant said, "Kuni La Rovai en Kuni La Korte, Loketti Mo-O de Ku Vo-o-mu. (Guardian of Continuity and Guardian of Stability, please guide this soul well.)"

Grant then aimed a small smile at the small silver lantern necklace that he had glued to the gravestone before the funeral. Despite a decade having passed, the necklace still looked brand new. "It looks like someone has been keeping good care of this place."

"Of course." Slade smiled too at the necklace. "Your own was buried with you since I poetically thought that it may serve as a light to your darkness."

Grant snorted, stopping himself from outright laughing at his dramatic father. Slade grinned at his own foolishness. The two quietly stared at the two graves.

It felt surreal to see his own grave. To know that his own body was buried six feet under, and yet dug up for some sicko experiment he couldn't remember. He looked back to Zareen's and a desperate part of him wished that she was dug up, too, and that his father saved the both of them. It was such an insane idea, but Zareen would've came out of it better than he did. She was always the stronger, smarter, and better of the two.

 _"What are you talking about, Grant?"_ He could imagine Zareen's annoyed voice as if she was standing next to him. Her brown skin radiant by the sun light, and how she would be staring at him with her clear golden hazel eyes demanding for no bullshit. She had to tilt her head a little to see him, but despite being shorter, the stance of her lean muscular build made her appearance tower over his own. He could see her dressed in her Koonish clothes that consisted of a long silver tiered skirt and a light grey long sleeve blouse that were both embroidered in gold. Her auburn hair had grown to her colorful flat-wearing ankles and was covered by her white lace head scarf. _"You suffered alone unlike me who was able to escape from the neglect of a woman who did not love me and forged something greater of myself. Yeah, you succumbed to doing the worse thing possible, but what kid wouldn't? What makes you think I wouldn't do the same if I was in your shoes? And honestly, I don't think I could smile and act as free as the way you do. Stop putting me on an imaginary pedestal with imaginary suffering that I did not suffer. Look at me. See me."_

"Zareen loved you like a daughter." Grant had to tell Slade. "She tried to call you Uncle, but you were a dad to her for the best four years of her childhood. Four years sound little, but those years make or break a kid. She never could forget how you bought her on our travels without hesitation, and you actually looked forward to spending time with the both of us. She could never let go of how much she loved you."

Slade grimaced at the forlorn pain in his son's voice. He could imagine the little girl who looked up at him with sparkling golden hazel eyes, dirtied from playing in the jungle, and smiling a firm confident smile. _"Dad! Dad! Dad!"_ He could hear her cry out excitedly.

He took a deep breath to speak, "When I heard from Wintergreen that you were with Zareen, a weight lifted off of my shoulders. I only heard the worse of news about you, and she always bought out the best side of you, and you did the same for her. You both did for me. While I was out being Deathstroke in the world, the two of you gave me the privilege of just being a father back home."

Grant replied, "It's what a family does." He then looked back to find Xander or Camouflage, but he didn't see them, so he mentally called out to Camouflage who sensed his call. She was just sitting on a bench by a tree with Xander who was fixated with the shapes of the grave stones. She bought the boy over where Xander quickened his steps to be by Grant's side.

Xander then shoved Cutthroat under his armpit and placed his palms on his chest and then served them forward. "Loketti Mae (My soul is here)." He looked up at Grant, "Did I do it correctly?"

"You got it!" Grant ruffled his hair.

Camouflage blinked, "I traveled around the world, but I don't think I'm familiar with this culture."

Grant explained, "It's Koonish. Zareen is half-Bialyan, but she rejected that side of her because her Koonish mother was a 'comfort woman' for the Bialyan soldiers before Bialya won Koonish from Qurac. Zareen had moved to New York with Rosa, but she immediately had Rosa bring her back to Koonish since she didn't see the point of being with her if she couldn't be with me."

"Wait, wasn't she only eight?"

Grant scoffed, "Getting rid of an adopted child to start a new life was an obvious choice for the bitch. Besides, Zareen had grandparents and her mom in Koonish who took care of her and taught her the original customs despite the tyrannical control from Bialya. In the Koonish religion, you press your hands to your chest and then serve it forward as a gesture of good will from the soul. The Koonish people were big on spiritual presentations and reincarnations, and the religion was called Kunirote."

Xander excitedly added, "That's because their gods are the Kuni siblings!"

"Kuni siblings?" Slade wasn't into religion. Not because he didn't believe that their gods weren't real, Wonderwoman and many others were proof of that, but by how people and gods have abused the power of religion to control the masses,. As a former soldier who had been controlled and abused by the government, he couldn't stand to be a part of that.

But he was willing to listen to what Xander had to say, "Mm hm! The Kuni siblings are known as Kuni La Rovai, Guardian of Continuity, and Kuni La Korte, Guardian of Stability, and are the children of the white light of life and the darkness of death. Both of these siblings have round oil lamps that helps them fulfill their roles! Rovai's role is to make sure the process of reincarnation flowed smoothly since he has ultra good instincts and a kind yet realistic heart which makes him a fair judge of the dead. He holds the golden lamp which remains unlit unless a species went instinct or his planet was destroyed. When he lights it up, it acts as a signal for the other golden lantern holders from other planets to know what happened and adopt the lost souls." The boy then pointed at the silver lantern necklace at Zareen's gravestone. "Beside Rovai stood Korte who is responsible of protecting Rovai and their believers. She is also responsible in making sure her lantern is always remained lit so that Rovai could do his job. While Rovai is kind, Korte is dangerous. She doesn't hesitate to smite down anyone who dared step out of line. Rovai is the only one capable of holding Korte back." Xander then commented to Grant, "I can understand why she gave you Kuni La Rovai's lantern because Rovai is the one more in touch with their feelings. Despite being older, he is the wild child who experiences the days with fervor hence another reason why he has the title of continuity. Korte is the younger and is more in touch with her thoughts, so gives life more structure hence the title stability."

"Aw, you think I'm in touch with my feelings?" Grant joked.

Though Xander seriously answered, "You faced life with a more emotional aspect while Zareen faced it with a logical one. Both has its pros and cons. Zareen may have had the more stable life, but things were more of a manipulative narrowed course of possibilities. And your life may have been awry, but due to your colorful lifestyle, you adapted to different situations with more ease, which is why you're loved from those in the slums to those in the highest positions."

Those words perked Slade's ears since he never imagined Grant to be loved by what sounded like a large quantity of people. He assumed Grant was only loved by him, Phan and Zareen before his death. And what did Xander mean by colorful lifestyle? He knew that his sons had been close for over a month, but it sounded like Grant had been more open with the boy than he thought. Slade looked over to Camouflage who telepathically told him that she may have therapy sessions with Grant, but she no doubt figured that Xander knew a ton more than she did about Grant with how much time the two had spent alone together.

"Wow, didn't think you were looking that deep into my lifestyle with Zareen." Grant told Xander.

"Isn't it obvious?" Xander was surprised that Grant was surprised which led to a more surprised but then understanding pucker lip expression from the older brother.

"You're right. Thanks." Grant kissed Xander on the forehead as a token of his appreciation.

Slade looked at the boys with curiosity, but he smothered it since he still felt like he was walking on eggshells and legos.

Instead Camouflage stayed on topic and inquired, "So these Kuni siblings are thought to be responsible for reincarnations. No heaven or hell?"

Xander shook his head again, "There is no heaven, but there is a special dimension where the souls that are too dangerous to be reincarnated is locked away to. But they can be given a second chance if they make a plea, which then Korte will make them go through various tests, and if they succeed, then they are allowed to reincarnate. As for the rest, it's much like in the Indian religion, Hinduism, where people are reborn into a state of life due to the karma they produced in their past lives. If you find yourself unlucky in a situation, then you would blame your past life, but also try your best in your new life for a better life in the next. So for the most part, you are the controller of your own destiny."

Grant remembered, "Zareen did commonly swear in her language, 'Baba de sii.' meaning roughly 'I may have screwed up in the past but give me a break now' and then say afterwards, 'Mo-O de nii." meaning 'I will be better'."

"Aspiring." Slade commented.

Camouflage asked Grant, "Did Zareen make you a follower?"

"A Kunirotevoku. A mouthful. I know, and yeah, I am one." He looked over to his dad, "I know that Frannie was hoping to make a faithful Christian out of me, but Zareen's religion felt right to me."

Slade replied, "As an atheist, it's not my place to say, but if you need my opinion, if a religion gives you what your family failed to do, then I support it."

Grant smiled at him, "Thanks dad."

"Ooh! Then we should do a Qui-Denorai!" Xander then excitedly said. Camouflage and Slade immediately rose their eyebrows. "It's what the citizens who survived a tragedy that they were a part of do. They do something creative in order to express their guilt in private or to the public in order to relieve the pain. It was inspired by the Koonish soldiers who aspired to be artists and it was encouraged by doctors."

Grant recollected, "I did mine in private with a violin when I could properly function again. I think the one I used to have might be in storage."

"I believe I put your violin along with a few items in a safe house here in New York." Slade said. "After you died, you had practically nothing to give through your will except for two suitcases. One of them was handed to me, which contained your violin with a few smaller other things. The second suitcase and your bank account on the other hand was to be privately handled by a close friend of yours that the court kept exceptionally private."

"That's because I didn't want Adeline to know anything about my business to the very end." Grant clarified. "After everything that happened to me as a kid, I couldn't trust her to know anything else about me."

Camouflage jumped into the conversation to lighten up the mood, "So let's head to the safe house to get that violin. I am dying to hear you play."

Grant was thankful for the distraction. "It's been a good decade so we'll see how good my muscle memory will be."

The family gave their goodbye through the Koonish gesture, and then made their way to one of Slade's safe houses where they figured they could stay at for the week. Slade opened a safe that contained the suitcase, and the violin inside looked good despite lack of use. Grant picked it up, and gave it a good wipe and dry first.

The others were looking at the pictures in the case. "There's no pictures of Grant." Xander pointed out, seeing only a redhead that could only be one person. "They're all of Zareen."

Camouflage picked one that showed Zareen posing with two older women and an older man in front of a flag pole. The flag was black with one silver round oil lantern in the middle that contained a golden color. "Is this her family in Koonish, Grant?"

Grant warmly smiled at the picture. "Yeah. The woman next to her is her mom; Gulbahar Tehrai. But I call her Kiri which is Koonish for second mother. And the other two are her grandparents; Jesper and Bahar Tehrai who I refer to as grandpa and grandma respectively in Koonish. Zareen had us visit them for a month during the summer in order to not only celebrate my birthday but to also celebrate the most important Kunirote holiday: Quaytori Meka, Sunshower of Rejuvination. Basically a New Year holiday for Koonish that celebrates family and friendship through eating a lot of nut-based cuisine with alternatives for the allergic, praying for the sunshower which is the golden rain of luck from Rovai, and also having dances with lots of weaponry in respects to the warrior Korte."

Xander asked his father, "Did you ever go to Koonish?"

"No, but I did take a job from one of their locals where I had to travel to France in order to take down a scientist who had been kidnapping children from various Asian countries. The survivors were able to make it back to their homes safe and sound." Xander smiled at that last addition.

"Oh yeah, I remember that." Grant nodded to the story with a simper.

That furrowed his father's brows. "How would you remember that? That mission was never played public record due to how damaging it would be for the country."

Grant slyly smirked, "The local that requested for you was a Kunirotevoku rebel who worked with Zareen. I told you that she went back to Koonish, which at the time was a dictated country, but Koonish regained their sovereignty over a decade ago, partly thanks to Zareen. She was a genius. She actually dumbed herself down when we were kids at school because she didn't want to be pressured into skipping grades, which would've separated us. Outside of school, she taught herself engineering, computer science and etcetera. Then used those skills and what dad taught her in order to join and help the Kunirotevoku rebels remove Bialya from control, thus reforming its theocracy."

Slade remembered, "She asked me often of how to do covert operations and ambushes in various ways. I figured that she aspired to become a government spy in the future."

"And she was." Grant proudly told them, though corrected, "She was actually aspiring to becoming a politician, but instead at the mere age of 10 and with her family's help, she became the key strategist for the rebels. She hacked the government, intercepted their messages, raided military supplies, and then also traveled to various countries in order to find and cut off the suppliers of Qurac and Bialya with the help of various mercenaries and assassins to complete the job."

"Okay, uhm, wow." Camouflage tried to not be speechless. "How did she end up living in New York?"

"She came here to talk to businessmen into starting trade with Koonish because it's one thing to reform a government system, but it's also another to reform its economy. After we reunited, I helped her out, and not to brag, but I was able to jump start their economy."

"How." That did not come out as a question from Slade's lips.

Grant did not miss his father's dangerous tone, and he looked scared to answer. Xander immediately got in between the two, fully expecting to take any hit thrown between them.

"UHM!" Camouflage stepped in. "Let's have dinner! Xander! Could you and Grant get us something to eat!" She changed their appearances.

The boy did not respond to her. He was frozen in place like a statue with thoughts far from them. Grant held his shoulders, catching the boy's attention. His older brother softly told him, "Let's go." They walked away without looking at Slade. Their father didn't respond or follow them.

Once they were alone, he said, "I'm sorry."

"Oh no. Your reaction was warranted, but yeah, dark secret and Xander having the impulsive reaction to act like a meat shield is a problem we can't handle normally. But do you really think Grant sold himself in order to get sleazy businessmen to help Koonish out?"

"He had already almost successfully committed suicide if Phan hadn't saved his life. I don't like the idea of Grant selling his body, thinking that is all he's capable of being good for. I also dislike the idea that Zareen could've encouraged it."

"Considering that her mother was a comfort woman, that's very hard to believe. Let's just wait until they come back and let Grant explain."

Slade was still frustrated, but he didn't want to do anything stupidly rash for the truth, so he just distracted himself with checking the international news or something.

* * *

While waiting for their large order, Grant restlessly fell into a different speech, "I'm a bloody dumb fuck. Course dad doesn't know that I was a fuckin' tart. I'm not ashamed of the fact that I was a fuckin' tart, but dad's gonna work up a kill list if he knew every John Thomas I've met."

"But aren't you a boy?" Xander with memories of the 40s inquired.

The older brother sighed out his restlessness to calmly answer, "Yeah, but I'm dad's favorite kid. I mean who wants their favorite kid to turn out into a prostitute except for those who make it like some fucked up family tradition or whatnot. And it's not like I sold myself to just any man. I sold myself off to powerful wealthy men who will do whatever fucked up thing there is to get what they think they're entitled to, and dad hates those elitist snobs."

"But he married Adeline."

"Lowered his standards after Phan broke his heart."

Xander snorted and then suggested, "I think dad won't kill them if you ask him to."

Grant snorted back, "No he won't. He'd leave them half-dead."

The two snickered at their dark humor.

Xander then looked out the window to see the endless busyness. Yet his eyes did not lay on the people or the advertisements, but instead the buildings. "The architecture here is amazing. It's a mixture of old and new, high and short, clean and dirty. Camouflage says that she can turn us into birds so that it would be easier for me to truly see everything in its glory."

Grant gazed with him, and found this moment the perfect time to build up to a question, "You know, Koonish is still in the middle of recovering. Zareen told me that though their country was small and did not have tall buildings like these or busy streets like these, before the invasion, they were a stable country. Not perfect but stable."

"Not perfect how?"

"Well, it is a theocratic nation. Not to say that the religious leaders abused their power over the people to an unforgivable extent. The law was made to cater to a majority of the people unlike here in America where it's backwards. Of course, you can still become a rich man because it also has a stabled economy due to not only having been a great place for tourism for their cultural festivals, but also for being a neutral country that allowed for businesses trade to flow smoothly despite the countries being at war against each other. Also the nation didn't fall into the whole misogynistic women ideals. I guess that's largely due to Korte who is heavily praised for being a powerful virgin warrior goddess who protected her followers, and also forgiving them if they had crossed her if they were to prostate themselves. Koonish women are expected to be headstrong leaders with a soft spot to them since they are also expected to be mothers. Many of them end up becoming generals, surgeons, inventors, star athletes, and CEOs."

"And for the men?"

"Well, in the case of Rovai, they're expected to be emotionally intelligent and open leaders who are in a way metrosexual. Like other nations, it is the man who speaks for the nation, but a woman is their greatest ally. Other than one of them ending up becoming the nation's leader, many of them actually end up becoming models, chefs, therapists, artists and househusbands and the such. Then again it can be reversed. For those who do not fit in that mold, they aren't considered trans in the traditional sense, but to be spiritually trans. The saying goes 'Koren Do-mo-O sentupa!' meaning that my body is my preferred gender but my spirit is that of the other. So they do not follow the traditional pronouns of 'Seko' for men and 'Reko' for women. Instead they are referred to as 'Dik'."

"It sounds like a very well structured place that's ahead of its time socially. What's wrong with it exactly?"

"Religion." Grant put it bluntly. "Again. Theocratic nation. People of other religions are allowed to settle in and bring along paintings and bibles and whatever, but they cannot build mosque or churches or temples or any other religious buildings. They weren't allowed to build shrines in their own property. Usually Koonish is good with adapting with the changes of the world just as it had done for thousands of years, but religion was not one of them. Koonish is a holy land of the Kuni siblings. Prostrating yourself to another religion on the land is highly disrespectful, so secret ceremonies and the such were raided. The prisons were mainly filled with different religious members instead of thieves or murderers."

"Not a lot of news in English covers Koonish, so I take it that that must be why the country's government became corrupted."

"Yeah. The leader of Koonish is chosen if a special black ink turns gold on a boy's head and a red ink turns silver on a girl's head. Money, status and whatnot wasn't important, and for the longest time, it was an effective system since many of the chosen leaders of the ink have proven to be able to adapt to modern societies while also upholding the nation's traditional values. But despite that, many of the younger citizens of that time believed that the choosing of leaders was ridiculous, and that the lack of religious freedom led to inequality and they weren't wrong."

"Then why didn't they just move?" Xander inquired. "They could've worked in Koonish and then leave so that they could be religiously free."

Grant sighed, "It's all entitled bullshit and whatnot. We live in an era that's aware of Social Justice Warriors, Misandrist Feminism, Hypocritical LGBT communities and Fucked Up Groups who play the victim card in order to obtain more than they deserve, and go about wanting representation and shit the wrong way. Seriously. It's all fuckin' harrassment. I mean those fuckin' retards had the right idea, but to kill the government leaders and usurp the power, only to end up throwing the country into chaos, how can they not expect divine intervention."

"Divine intervention?"

"Ah right, I didn't tell you the whole story about Korte and Rovai." Grant was about to explain, but then their orders were ready. "Let's put a rain check on that. What I was getting at from all this was to ask after we save Phan is if you want to live in Koonish."

Xander's grey eyes lit up at the suggestion. "YES! YES! YES!" He hugged Grant a little too strong.

After heading back, Grant and Xander found Camouflage and Slade completely immersed on whatever they were looking at in the laptop. Grant figured that his confessions could happen after dinner. "Hey!" He called out.

The two snapped out of their trance.

"Oh hey!" Camouflage greeted back. "Sorry. Slade and I were in the middle of looking through satellite images and security footage to see how safe it will be for us to slip into Limbo town. It is a black magical place where the Klarion Witch Boy came from."

"We bought dinner!" Xander told them with far too much excitement. "Oh! Oh! And Grant said that we'll live in Koonish after we save Phan!"

"Oh wow, that's a big decision. Isn't still in the stages of being reformed though? It takes a while for a country to revive after such heavy blows."

Grant replied, "Looking up on the Koonish local news blogs, it recovered up to nearly 90% over the last decade, and that's talking about infrastructure and economic and political stability. But as for tourism and the religious freedom issues, the country remains heavily guarded for the sake of the war victims since it's still a recent incident."

"Will you in a not so awkward way get in touch with Zareen's family in Koonish?"

"Oh, I already contacted them after I remembered Zareen again. It's funny because despite it being a decade of reforming a country, they still had the same number. They took the news of my coming-back-from-the-dead news pretty well since my death was unnatural in the first place."

Xander remembered, "So that's who you were chatting with at the phone booth while Cutthroat Sally and I were playing in the snow."

"So wait. You called them from a phone booth, telling them that you're alive and they took it chilled?"

"After asking me a few questions to confirm that it was me, they were relieved and not all that surprised since my death was unnatural. We talked about Zareen for a bit to help clear up my memories and remember who I was again."

"After remembering Zareen, a lot of your anger seem to have softened." Slade pointed out.

"All of my happiest memories included Zareen and you, so not only did I remember her, but also all the reasons why I love you and don't feel a need to forgive you for anything you couldn't do anything about until it was too late."

The father felt overwhelmed by this confession. Camouflage read the atmosphere and had her and Xander walk over to the dining room to properly lay out the food.

"Grant...Did you resort to selling your body in order to help Zareen's country gain back their economy?"

"Yes. To be honest, it wasn't the first time. I began prostituting myself when I was 13."

Slade's eyes widened to the point that it was bound to pop out.

Grant quickly explained, "Like you overheard before, Phan sent me to a military boarding school abroad to get away from Adeline. And it was a good school for only boys that wasn't too strict or relaxed, and a lot of the guys were nice. It was an added bonus when I was allowed to stay at the dorms for the whole three month winter vacation that we're given. The lack of stress helped me get hit by both a growth spurt and puberty so by then end of the break, I already looked like a senior."

"That's normal for our genes."

For some reason that put a smile on the son's face when he was trying to remain serious though awkwardness poured through him. "Yeah. When classes started again and I was more comfortable being in class, I began to notice boys again. And you already know how I was when I was a kid."

Slade smiled despite the situation, "How could I forget. You flirted with every cute boy around your age when you had the chance during our travels."

"I couldn't do it at school since studies were the most important, but things changed and I wasn't looking for a relationship. Just release. And I found that opportunity when the lower classes were to be paired with a Seniors to go through a camping survival experience with little to no equipment. After taking the opportunity that night, the senior wanted to go at it again, and I joked that I would unless he paid me. And then went overboard when I told him that the first time was a freebie because I wanted to warm myself up and hoped that he'd advertise me to his friends. I was going to tell him that it was a joke, but then he asked how much. And without even a second thought, he asked if a thousand would do it. And my immediate thought was that that money could help me get my own private laptop."

Grant lowered his eyes in shame yet his lips formed a smile out of habit. "It's weird right? I have a rich mom and a famous dad, but I grew up practically poor after you left. Scrapping up what little food I could steal from the kitchen because I was scared I would be poisoned. Staying holed up in my room to avoid harassment. Once Phan got into the picture, she was the one who fed me, bought me new clothes, helped me travel again with me asking when she didn't have to. And at the time, she was also the one paying all of my school fees at this military academy and was able to get away with it because she was close friends with the head of the school. She said that I could ask her for anything, but I was too embarrassed because I forgot how to ask for anything anymore other than freedom. Other than to be with you."

Tears build up in both the men's eyes. "But it was impossible wasn't it. If I went to you, you might reject me out of guilt or Adeline would've used it against you. And I couldn't be with Zareen because she moved back to Koonish that was hell on Earth and a foreigner like me wouldn't have lasted. And Phan after my incident wanted to take me away, but she couldn't because I was still too young to be in her dangerous world. That military school was my only safe haven, and I thought that it was fine. It was just sex and money among two guys."

"So that's how your prostitution started. Did Phan know about this?"

"I told her when we traveled to the Caribbeans, and she didn't have any prejudices against it. I was surprised, but after you told me that she grew up during the 1800s, I can understand why now. And I think she also knew that I would stop prostituting myself if she asked, but then with how desperate and awkward I was, I might've turned to doing something even more stupid. So she helped me learn how to do the business safely and how to save money off of it so I could actually retire. Though I think she tried to discourage me once by telling me that you would forgive me for doing this, but it'll haunt you forever that I resorted to doing this."

Slade was silent and his face unreadable, though Grant could tell that Slade didn't want to upset his son with what was the truth. Grant looked away again to continue, "But none of that is my darkest secret, which is crazy, but shows how fucked up your son has become, and I understand that after all this-"

"I won't abandon you, Grant. I'll never do that again." Slade promised. "And you did what was necessary to survive. I can't expect of you to do the sound thing when you've been wrongly abused for a majority of your life. But if I had the opportunity to go back in time, and Phan had gone to me about this, damn my own pride. I don't have prejudices against prostitution, but I can't accept you prostituting yourself at such a young age!"

"That's cheap coming from a guy who slept with a teenager!" Camouflage yelled from the other room.

Slade barked back, "And look where that got her! I admit that it was foolish of me to do something so stupid. Damn me to hell for it, but damn it if my own son was to do something so ludicrous himself! No matter what any of those pigs paid for you, it was too cheap for what you're truly worth!"

Grant felt himself become overwhelmed, "I...I'm not-"

"If you want to say that you've been broken in the past and that devalues you, then you have not truly looked at yourself. Yes, you've made mistakes, but unlike me who has turned to violence and created walls only for my sake, you have always chosen to be empathetic and open. Not many people can do that. Especially after all that you've been through. And I am such a fool to have believed otherwise. You are priceless."

Grant hugged his father, whimpering, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for being such an idiot, but I assure you that I did everything safely like Phan told me. I didn't get in trouble or anything for a good while."

Slade hugged him back, kissing the side of his head as if Grant was once again the little boy in his arms. Xander ran up to them to hug them, too with Cutthroat Sally. They added him in the hug, giving him kisses to his teary cheeks.

Camouflage let them stay like that while using her telekinesis to bring dinner out to the living room and having them eat around the coffee table instead.

After dinner, the two boys slept side by side on the same bed, looking far more comfortable than they had been separately at the cabin. Camouflage just smiled at them before closing the door. She then frowned at Slade who looked ready to kill in the unprofessional sense.

"He said 'for a good while'." The father pointed out while sitting at the office desk in the living room with a laptop before him. "Meaning something did happen, and I have a feeling it had something to do with why he ran away at 17."

"That was around the time he got expelled the second time." She came over to him to see him hack into the school records and finding related news about it. "Huh, so it looks like Grant was expelled after over a month into his last year of the military academy after destroying all of the vehicles of the school staff with a bat."

"That's not the most interesting part." Slade put what he was getting at into focus, "For the first three years of Grant's schooling, he had the same head principal in the academy until the man had suddenly took his retirement earlier than planned. Plus during those three years, Grant stayed at a dormitory, sharing a room with a kid named 'Hiresh Sahni'. After a boating incident, he was left paraplegic. I take it that they paired them since Grant worked at the hospitals and similar institutions when Phan had him visit Vietnam."

"So how are those two things related?"

"Hiresh Sahni is a self-made billionaire in India who is a global advocate for stopping domestic abuse, especially for men who have been abused by women. Apparently a dear friend of his was blackmailed, drugged and raped by a woman in order to protect Hiresh from being falsely accused of hacking several international government computers. Once Hiresh knew of this, he felt powerless to help his friend since the justice system, much less society would see him as a rape victim and help him in his time in need. Hiresh vowed to never let a man be left in such a state again."

"No, no, no."

"When Grant came back for his last year, the head principal's position was taken by a woman who unsurprisingly used to work in Adeline's organization. Camouflage. You hacked into Searcher's Inc.'s files. Do you remember reading anything about this?"

The teen just needed to see the woman's face and clearly remembered. "What happened with HIVE was at the forefront of my mind, but I also remember reading from Grant's file that before he ran away, 'he had been acting in an unforgivably promiscuous way' which at the time I thought wasn't anything significant, but it must've been the writer's intention to keep the information vague in order to not worry Adeline."

"Who wrote it."

"Who else than Adeline's ex: Waller." She felt Slade's tensity that she quickly added, "But I highly doubt that he would be so bitter as to have someone do that." She had the laptop look up further on the woman, "It appears that she was killed by her husband two weeks after Grant was expelled for his actions. It looks like while he was a colonel who had been deployed to Qurac, several witnesses stated during the investigation that his wife had been sleeping with underaged boys who were presumed to be gay. No one had said anything out of fear of what it would mean for the man's reputation. But it looks like from what the guy stated to a reporter was fuck reputation, he didn't protect the country to allow a rapist to get away with her crimes, and he felt that he should go to prison to repent for enabling her crimes despite not knowing about it. People to this day had been sending him their condolences and demanding his freedom."

"I didn't ask him to kill her." Slade and Camouflage were startled by Grant's voice. They looked over to him to see him carrying a sleeping Xander in his arms. "When I went back to school, Waller confronted me about my prostitution business that he caught wind of after a relative who he was on bad terms with blurted about it in retaliation. In order to spare Adeline the humiliation, he forced the head principal to retire for allowing it to happen, and then replaced him with that woman without knowing that she was a serial rapist who preyed on gay men." He looked at Xander to make sure that he remained asleep.

"I'm still going to kill him after we save Phan." Slade promised.

Grant gave a small smile to those twisted comforting words, though it dropped when he continued, "She did blackmail Herish and then gave me time to think it over. She must've thought I wouldn't tell him, but I did, and he already had solid blackmail material against her because that's what he does. We presented it to her, and thought that we won, but instead, she knocked us out with sleeping gas and drugged me with an aphrodisiac. And then in front of him..."

"Grant." Camouflage raised her hand to reassure him that he didn't have to go into detail of what happened.

He swallowed the details, and then said, "She disabled his high tech wheelchair, but she didn't know that his eyeglasses could video record everything. Afterwards, she threatened to get us killed if the blackmail material was to become public. So we didn't make it public. Instead Herish sent the video to the Colonel with a message explaining the event."

Camouflage's and Slade's faces dropped.

Grant sat down on the sofa, making sure Xander was comfortable. "The Colonel slipped away from his post secretly, and sent a message to Herish to have us meet him in the forest. Herish didn't tell me why we were going out since I would've broken down into a mess in our room. No, I did it when I saw him. Got on my knees and cried my apologies, thinking at the time that I was the rapist and not the other way around because as a man, I...He told me to pick my head up and that it wasn't my fault. And he was the one who gave me the bat to trash those cars because he didn't want me around for what he was going to do to set things right. Herish stayed to help him do that. Learned what happened after running to New York soon after that."

"Grant." Camouflage sat down next to him, followed by Slade who sat on his other side.

The young man smiled. "I'm fine. Herish made a badass organization that makes me feel safe, and Zareen helped me through the trauma when I came here. Phan figured it out after hearing the news about the Colonel, and contacted some friends in prison to give him a comfortable solitary confined space. And she visited me in New York to make sure I was alright. Zareen and her got along, but Phan couldn't stay long because there was a huge government conspiracy that needed her full attention so she wouldn't be able to contact me for a good two to three years."

"Which is why she wasn't present when the whole HIVE thing was happening." Camouflage connected the two dots.

"And for why she wasn't present for either Zareen's or your funerals." Slade noticed.

"Yeah, but I'm not disappointed. Her work was important. I just hope she's alright."

"She is." Camouflage promised him.

Xander hummed in his dream. Grant took that as a sign to get back to bed. He told them goodnight and left.

Camouflage and Slade were silent for a bit before the teenager said, "We should get some sleep."

"Camouflage." Slade had her pause to listen to his question, "Is there anything else I should know about the HIVE report? I want to know everything."

The teen sighed heavily, but did send what she knew to Slade's mind, and the man's face darkened.


	7. Chapter 7: Buried Secrets

**Chapter 7: Buried Secrets**

Slade stood before a library, feeling a sense of dread that he hadn't felt since he was young and naive, thinking that the army was just and right. Only for his own superior to command him to shoot the innocent and then be punished for not following through. Since then, for a majority of his life, he always expected the worse. He always thought things through logically, pushing emotions aside so that it did not get in the way of the job. Even for his own pure, sweet innocent five-year-old son, Joe.

But Grant was always a different story. Slade knew that if it had been Grant that Night against the Jackal, everything would've become far more personal. And that was because he knew his boy. He knew his nine-year-old son, who could probably defend himself better than Joe if the bastards hadn't tied him up. If such a wager was put on his own boy, he would have not been so kind to listen to the fool's words. He would've sliced all their throats before they could utter a single word.

And after what Camouflage had let him finally know last night, he wanted to raise hell for the world. Not caring of who was hurt in the process. Not caring if he was to be killed trying. He had already gone down that road when facing the Titans, yet he saw himself merciful at such a time of his life because he _believed_ that Grant was the fool. He believed that the boy did his own undoing, only to realize that it was because of his own parents that he had been bought down to the Earth to soon. If he had known what had truly happened to his son, he wasn't so sure that Adeline would...

"Oh, hello. Have you been waiting for us to open up?" The first employee trusted to open the public establishment had finally arrived during the chilly winter morning of New York. "You must be freezing! I'm sure we had our hours posted online! C'mon! C'mon! I'll get you some hot chocolate from our break room! Usually we don't do that, but someone as passionate as you waiting to read books gets a pass!"

Slade said nothing as he entered the place, and told librarian that he came for an important novel titled "A Love Letter To My Father".

"Oh! You haven't read that novel yet! It was very popular about a decade ago for its risque storytelling! Let me show you! It's on the second floor!" Slade followed her to the stairs. "I won't spoil the series for you, but it's one of my favorites! I mean for a boy to come home from his school from abroad to a mother who murdered his father, and then for her neglectful attitude to be the trigger for all the bad things to happen to his life later on! It's truly heartbreaking. Especially at chapter 7!"

"What happens at chapter 7?"

"Oh, you don't want me to spoil the book for you!"

"I insist. It's embarrassing to say, but I can't stomach this type of literature, but I had to read it."

The employee hesitated, yet became empathetic, "Okay. So for the first chapter it goes into great detail of how amazing his life is as a kid with his best friend Zari, his dad, and his dad's side of the family along with his friends. But then the book doesn't waste any time to shatter his life into pieces in chapter 2 where he comes home to discover that his father died, and no one at all will tell him why his father was killed, and why his own little brother- another character in the book that you won't see much of really- had his throat slit which left him mute."

Slade's heart fell. There was no doubt that this was the novel he was looking for.

"And it turns out that the father had enemies back from his days as a soldier who came to their house and tried to kill his little brother to get back at him. But the father was able to save the little brother, but the mother couldn't have him alive for fear of her family, so she shot him in the head. BAM! Right in the eye!"

Slade remembered that feeling. The only reason Adeline didn't shoot a second time was because Wintergreen had been present at their home and stopped her.

"And then the main character goes through what a lot of kids go through after a shock like that. I mean he was a really great kid in the first chapter, but then for the next four chapters, it's a serious progression of how terrible his life turned out to be in just under a year! He's neglected and abused by not only his mother, but her friends and employees! He cut out of contacting any of his friends or the dad's side of his family. I mean they can still try to visit him, but they are a country away and can't do anything about the custody! And it sounds terrible, but I'm not even giving it justice! It's like the main character was stuck in a prison, wondering which guard was going to come and kill him for his mother! But ooooh, they're not going to kill him. One of them had an even more devious plot."

Slade held his breath, yet let it go to speak, "And what would that be?"

The employee stopped at one of the bookcases, and finds the novel that had a reddish orange color with the title written cursively in white. The back had its reviews, which Slade ignored to look at the front. It was a painting of a naked man lying on a bed. And though his face was covered by the blanket, the way the man clenched the linen and his body looked hunched in pain clearly showed the distress he was in.

"I'll spare you one last spoiler before you read. The boy tried to run away in order to figure out if his father was truly dead since he never attended his funeral. But then he is kidnapped by one of his mother's best friends, and is then locked in an underground room at a cabin in the woods that was only an hour's drive from his home. He was left in a state of solitary confinement with a bed, a toilet and artificial lights. There's also a television but it's placed at the other side of a bullet proof glass case that has a speaker hooked at the corner. And every day, a recording would tell him to kill himself with either of the three weapons beneath the bed. A gun. A knife. A deadly poison. The crazy lady would try to further convince him by playing secret video taped recordings of his conversation with his mother and-"

"DON'T!" Slade looked over his shoulder to see a breathless barefoot Grant who wore too little for the winter. He was in tears, and his voice choked up, "Dad..."

Slade quickly knocked the employee out with a technique that would erase few minutes off of her memory. He then quickly put the book down on the convenient stool near him. He then faced Grant, "I'm sorry, Grant. But I needed to know. Camouflage gave me all the information that Searcher's Inc. had of you, and I did a digging of my own. This book did not get published until three years after your death."

Grant's mouth trembled, but forced himself to speak, "I was supposed to meet him again after I met you." He swallowed. "He must've needed the money so just made up his own ending."

Slade removed his coat and wrapped it around his son, and then wrapped his arms around him. "I love you. No matter what I read in this book, you will always be priceless to me. You will always be my son." He kissed his son's heated wet face. He then mentally called for Camouflage to come get them. She came in the form of a bird with a bag, pecking at the window. Slade picked up his son, and Camouflage turned them into little wooden dolls to fit into her bag. She bought them home, and Slade placed Grant back into his bed. Xander got a wet wipe to clean up Grant's face, and then placed a cool cloth on his head. He then snuggled up to him with Cutthroat Sally.

Slade proceed to read the book from chapter 1, and his memories came to life when he read about the boy's travels with his father, but this time he was seeing it from Grant's point of view at the height of 16. Just a few months before the assault. Without a doubt, there was love and happiness expressed that Grant may have edited the work himself, or perhaps was that good at storytelling verbally that the writer just had to place the punctuation.

Yet the most crushing part was the hope that nine-year-old boy had after a year without Zareen. Grant missed her deeply, hoping she was fine after moving back to Koonish. And Slade, being the fool, promised to do anything to allow the two to meet again.

That hope, that happiness died with just one sentence at the end of the chapter.

He went on to read the next four chapters of how Grant's paranoia increased significantly almost every passing day after he had gotten himself expelled from school after beating a student that had been antagonizing him for the longest time in their childhood life, cursing the staff with words that shook the other children, and then lastly, throwing a knife paper cutter hard enough to stab through wood.

Grant had explained that the outburst started due to the student calling Grant a bastard with a father who never loved him in the first place. Such provocation usually wouldn't have bothered him, but Grant was still reeling from having overheard a conversation between his mother and her friend about her attempt to kill his father, and how dismissive she was about his existence. Adeline couldn't talk about Grant without disappointment bordering on hatred. His natural instinct was to fight over fleeing, but he couldn't do that against his own mother, so he took it out on the rest of the world. He wished he hadn't been so impulsive and stupid. Otherwise, he wouldn't have imprisoned himself.

Everything that Grant told Camouflage during their session about his suicide was there, but he had left out the detail of his kidnapping. The librarian was right. Grant was taken to a cabin in the woods that was just an hour's drive from their home.

Slade paused his reading. He couldn't swallow his tears from just simply imagining his son being locked in a room without a soul to comfort him. He had been in solitary confinement himself during his years as a soldier and his years as Deathstroke. But he had been a grown man at that point, and even then, he had been broken by it.

"Can't finish the book?" Camouflage came into his room. "Sorry. I tried to keep Grant out of it, but then he saw through my lie, and connected the dots himself. To be honest, I actually already read that book before, and did not think that that was about your son."

Slade tried to hold himself together, but he did his own undoing, "How long?"

"Three months."

He crumbled.

Camouflage walked over to the seat facing him. "Grant was able to hold up for the first few weeks, keeping himself mentally strong, always trying to figure a way out of his prison, but his hope progressively got weaker every time a video of Adeline was shown. That woman was just not aware of how loyal and twisted her friends and workers would be for her, and that making her home the base of operations, would make them hear everything." The teen gave Slade a sample of Grant's memories. Usually she would be against such a thing, but thought that this was too important not to reveal for their sake.

 _"I DON'T WANT TO! I DON'T WANT TO GO TO YOUR STUPID PARTIES! I DON'T WANT TO GO TO JOE'S STUPID RECITALS! I DON'T WANT TO HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH ANY OF YOU! I WANT TO GO HOME TO DAD!" A nine-year-old Grant cried out against his mother. At this point he's already been kicked out of school and forced to do whatever his mother wanted, but always rejected harder against her growing insistence and impatience._

 _He could see the ferocity in her ugly green eyes and sneer. "YOUR FATHER'S A KILLER WHO'D GIVE UP YOUR LIFE AND RUN! Why can't you get it through that stupid head of yours that your father is a monster! Because of his pride, Joe is mute!"_

 _"But he's still alive! Why is any of this surprising! Dad's the best! It's obvious we'd be attacked! It's your stupidity that caused this!"_

 _"You insolent bastard!"_

 _Grant flung back when Adeline slapped him across the face without mercy. He was surprised. He had already been manhandled and harmed in the name of discipline since the divorce happened. He already knew his mother didn't actually love him like his father did. It was only an obligatory love that was now overshadowed by hatred because he was his father's son. And she despised how much they were alike._

 _Her voice was venom that poisoned his mind, "Where do you think you're allowed to stand high and mighty against your mother! You weren't there when that night began! What would you know! You think the time you spent with your father made you strong?! Don't joke with me! I trained that man, and all he's done is use it to hurt people, and has protected nothing and no one! He can't, and he will be killed for that! And you're just going to end up like him if you don't realize the truth!"_

 _"Dad's a hero!"_

 _"And lived long enough to become a disgrace! Now won't you or will you change your attitude to not end up like him!"_

 _"I'd rather DIE!" Grant didn't regret those words, but the cold expression his mother harbored caused a chilling burn into his eyes that captured the moment vividly to haunt him for days to come._

 _"Then go ahead an die." Her apathetic voice snapped her son's heartstrings. "If you can't accept your father for who he truly is, you'd be better off dead then."_

Slade didn't say a word out of disbelief. Camouflage sighed, "Grant didn't give in to those words. Instead, he feared of being killed when he began hearing people talk about how Adeline tried to kill you. Also when the kidnapping bitch, who was one of Adeline's most trusted friends who worked for her, actually openly told Grant about how great his mother was and how she was better off with him dead. So Grant definitely wasn't delusional that the workers were coming after him; he just didn't know how many."

Slade felt his heart collapse, "Please tell me."

"The bitch kept verbally harassing Grant while Adeline neglected him, and none of the other workers cared to stop this. It got bad to the point that he chose to run away and find a phone to contact you or Frannie since he was forbidden from using phones or anything he'd try to use to contact you since he tried before. However, that bitch abducted him, put him underneath that cabin, and forced him to see Adeline's reaction and progress in finding him. But that's not the worse of it. They didn't find him because bitch was the lead in the case so..." The teen looked down as she made Slade see what Grant saw as a child. His own boy who unknowingly turned ten was on a bed, watching the unedited video recordings of his ex-wife.

 _"I'm sorry, Adeline, but it's already been three weeks since your son had disappeared. We tried everything but nothing had been found at the last place he could've run off to. The trees were blocking the satellite camera, and animals had infected the trail since whoever abducted him had made sure of that." The friend spoke with a kind gentle voice that wouldn't naturally be from a child kidnapper._

 _Adeline looked distressed at her office chair. The worker took angles that showed on her desk pictures of only her and Joe in photo frames while Grant's was on a file. "Why did that stupid boy have to leave? Why is he so devoted to his father? I told him that he would get killed, and I won't be surprised if it was by one of Slade's enemies. Maybe a partner of the Jackal's, and knowing Grant, he wouldn't stay still, so I won't be surprised that no phone call has been made because they killed him, and Slade knows and he'd just chuck it all up as a 'calculated risk'."_

 _"That man has caused you a lot of pain, and now look what happened. How else can we explain your son's disappearance? But we shouldn't lose hope yet, Adeline." The friend held Adeline's shoulders firmly. "He might still be out there, and you'll welcome him home since you love him."_

 _Adeline sighed. "I don't know. If I love him I mean. I honestly miss Joe more since I had to send him away a bit until this blows over. I keep telling myself that I do love Grant these last three weeks, but if I have to be honest, Grant has always been Slade's kid, not mine. I am furious that this had happened, and I want to try to save Grant like I did any other kid, but that's as far as it goes. I don't want Grant to be dead, but it was all a matter of time wasn't it since he's that man's kid."_

 _"That's true. None of this is really your fault." The friend rubbed Adeline's arms out of fake sympathy. "He was always too difficult to deal with, but at least you tried your best unlike that man."_

 _Adeline perked up a bit by that comparison. "I did. But even if Grant is dead, we should at least find the bastard."_

"Stop." Slade softly pleaded, not able to stand seeing Adeline take Grant's death in stride like this anymore, or accept her true feelings. Joe was her child, but he still loved him as well.

Camouflage did stop it, and whispered, "Sorry, and I swear I'm not making any of these memories up and Grant wasn't imagining them. But there is a mystery to his story." Slade looked over to her now. "He doesn't know how he escaped or what happened to his kidnapper, and Phan doesn't know either. All she knew was that near her home in Vietnam, she found Grant beside a river cold and wet but still breathing. She spent the next eight months helping him recover. He was in a truly terrible state. He couldn't stop wetting the bed, he couldn't speak, he had a hard time adjusting to natural sunlight, and freaked out by loud noises. His mental state was in shambles. But Phan, without magic, helped him recover slowly but surely. One of the ways that helped the most was playing the violin because throughout his solitary confinement, he drowned out the recordings by pretending to play the violin."

Slade felt a small sense of relief from hearing that.

The teen continued, "Another thing was talking about you and Zareen. Phan was more than willing to have Grant see either of you, but he rejected out of fear that he'd hurt either of you. Because like what Grant told you before, if he went to see Zareen, a foreigner like him would only turn them into targets. And he didn't want you to get in trouble with Adeline after what her workers were willing to put a boy like him through."

Slade wanted to shoot himself more than ever now. "So Phan bought him back to Adeline?"

"With the story that they never met before, so that the two of them becoming tutor and student was more professional and not personal that it could put off a mother. It would also help put aside the memories of being in solitary confinement by not being reminded that she was his hero. Phan's character in the book was a favorite of the readers...although at times she seemed very hopeful and naive. She heavily believed in the importance of loving and respecting one parent. But the book does state that if Grant had just told Phan about how Adeline told him to go ahead and die, then she might have given him to someone else for adoption or anything else that would've been a lot better."

"And it was after she bought him back to Adeline that he began meticulously planning to commit suicide. Did Phan truly not know about it?"

"Grant hid it from her, and it wasn't hard since Phan had a job to recover Vietnam and to handle government missions for both Vietnam and Korea. She would be gone at least two weeks for each month for the first year spent together back at the mansion. She was aware of how uncomfortable Grant was around the workers, so convinced Adeline to keep them away from the mansion. Adeline just had forbade them to be near his room, and Grant's paranoia kept him continuing to sneak around and build things to survive. Phan tried to have them have family time, but Adeline was never happy with anything Grant did. Anything he did, it only upset her because you were still his son."

"HE WAS MISSING FOR A YEAR." Slade projected his voice, restraining himself from screaming his lungs off.

"And for a brief time, Adeline was relieved, but apparently, nothing else changed. Phan admitted to Grant when he was 15 that Adeline didn't truly care for his well-being. She only asked if he was alive and if he could provide any information about his kidnapping. When there was no kidnapping info to speak of, Adeline was not worried. She was selfishly frustrated. Anything else related to him was never good enough for her."

Slade clenched his teeth when he remembered the times Adeline dared to act as if she ever cared for Grant, but at truth, Slade understood now that she only ever mentioned him in order to claim their family as hers. And Grant was innocent. Not only Adeline, or Joe or Wintergreen, but the whole world saw the faults in Grant, but that was only because they saw them through him.

His son was abused, neglected, kidnapped, confined, pushed into suicide, blackmailed, drugged, raped and killed. And all of this could've been prevented if only Slade hadn't been Deathstroke. But also, that his supposed mother had bothered to care for him.

"I villainized him."

"You thought he was a troubled kid." She corrected him. "A lot of sons grow up being troubled and making stupid decisions. You can't blame yourself for something you didn't know about."

"Then I shouldn't blame Adeline as well."

"Okay, that's different."

"How?"

"You genuinely love Grant. C'mon. We have been working together for over half a year, and I know almost your entire past, so take my words for what it's worth, but I can't think of a time you have ever been this open and emotional since we saved Grant. And as a person with the powers of empathy, Grant enjoys that about you. Deathstroke the Terminator is not the same man as Slade Wilson, the father who loves his son. Your love gave him hope."

"My love destroyed him."

"Adeline weaponized that love to justify her neglect. You shouldn't blame yourself for the actions of others. You KNOW this." Slade remained in his stubborn state of guilt. Camouflage huffed, "For all the times for you to be selfish, why can't you just accept that you're not the bad guy. Grant doesn't see you as the bad guy in this book."

"He didn't know about me being Deathstroke or what truly went down during that night."

"Would that truly have changed anything? The Grant right now is mentally nineteen-years-old, told you just a couple days ago that he still doesn't blame you for all the bad that has happened, and loves you. I get that he's mentally crippled, but can't you respect his feelings." Slade glared daggers at her for daring to call his son mentally crippled, but the teenager was not swayed from her words. She had her words bite him, "What? Isn't that basically what you are doing? Rejecting Grant's thoughts and feelings, just because you can't forgive yourself when you've done the barely existing minimum to hurt him. Do you think of him too soft? Too stupid?"

"Anika!" Slade stood up and she stood up with him, not backing down.

"I may have known Grant for over a month, but I feel his love, I feel his pain, I feel everything, and it's not because I want to. He feels them far too strongly for me to ignore. When he put the dots together this morning, I felt his dread. Now why would he have to feel ashamed for the pain and suffering he went through in front of the father he loves that you think he's supposed to hate?"

Slade didn't know how to answer that question. He didn't operate through emotions. He only knew how to subdue them and only let the important ones seep one when he could. But Grant felt them at a full scale that Slade felt that he had to be open, and loud, and empathetic in order to bridge a connection between them. He wasn't in his comfort zone, but he loved Grant enough to be a different kind of honest.

Camouflage answered for him, "Because he didn't want to make you cry." She softly added, "He knows you're not as stone cold as the world believes." She left the room for Slade to be alone with his thoughts.

* * *

Grant felt himself fall into a familiar sadness that mimicked depression. He wasn't too sad because Xander was by his side, and Camouflage had come in with a tray of left over food from yesterday that was heated up nicely.

Camouflage apologized for invading his privacy and explained what she did and why she did it, and promised to not use her telepathic powers on him without permission again. But understands if he doesn't trust her anymore, and wouldn't want to see her again. And Grant was angry at her for doing that. He knew that he shouldn't forgive her, but saw the merit in this. He honestly couldn't see himself ever being able to tell his father about all of his aches and pains he went through, and hopefully that now that he knew, that his father would further be on his side. He just hoped that the truth didn't hurt and depress his father.

It gave him anxiety. His entire body wanted to leap over to his father to see his reactions, to know whether they can still function as father-and-son even if it was distorted. Yet he remained still out of fear. He felt like a mad man in a straitjacket. Xander tried to distract him with his drawings and talking about the cartoons he watched with Camouflage.

Eventually Slade walked into the room, and he looked like he went through hours of stressful office work that took off years of his life.

Nobody in the room knew what to say to him. They certainly did not expect to see him smile. "I would love to hear you sing, Grant."

Grant felt his chest trembled in relief. He let out a breath he hadn't known he had been holding as he tried to hold in the happiness that dare wet his face.

"It's really beautiful." Xander commented, having Cutthroat Sally's paw wipe away the tears.

"Karaoke night!" Camouflage cried out.

Grant softly laughed at that.

And so the family went out, but they decided to get themselves stuck in traffic in two different cars. Camouflage was driving Xander and Slade was driving Grant. They needed the private, small place to talk. It was a lot more comfortable than facing each other at the living room yesterday.

"So...you know the whole truth." Grant started out, a little scared. "From the Searcher's Inc. file on me and the book."

Slade tried to sound frank but not insensitive, "Not all of it. I stopped when you were to return back to the mansion to avoid the scandalous murder at your academy. I imagine that you had your darkest secret printed, and I didn't want to learn about it from anywhere but you. I can wait, or I can forget. Whatever makes you feel comfortable, Grant. But like I have always told you, I will always love you."

Grant felt a smile crawl up his face.

Slade smiled back as he joked, "But I do have other questions. The immortal general is Vandal Savage, isn't he. Really?"

The former prostitute defended himself, "I didn't know he was an immo- No wait, that's in the book. I mean he was loaded. He was one of the men who helped me become a billionaire prostitute at the age of 14."

"I wanted to strangle every man's neck in that book. Did the book have to detail out your sexual exploits."

"Hey, that books had won many awards for its nontraditional and daring psychological take of the gay man's sexuality, and had a spin-off fantasy book series that also had many adaptations in its name."

"The spin-off had adaptations because the original seemed like the son had incestuous feelings for his supposed dead father with all the immortal men in your book symbolizing your never-ending desire for him."

"Please don't remind me! My face was twisted so badly in disgust that Xander thought someone in my phone was trying to change my appearance! I had daddy issues, but not like that! Can't I wish for a hug from my dad, and have people not take it the wrong way! This isn't a sick Greek myth!"

"I personally blame the guy you had writing it."

"Hey, I was just helping him with his writer's block, and I thought writing a book about my life with Adeline as the villain would help me feel better about myself before going back to school..." Grant pierced his lips. He wanted to continue joking with his father, but issues had to be addressed. He sighed, "Anything else you want to ask?"

Slade inwardly sighed, "Do you want me to ask you those personal questions? I won't, if you're not comfortable. I'm aware that Camouflage and I stepped over a line, and we don't deserve your forgiveness."

"But I'm giving it to you anyway because there shouldn't be any secrets among us. I want you to see me, to see us. To change whatever the world tricked you into believing and know the real Grant Wilson." He smiled again for his father. "So ask anything. It's better now than later because who knows what fate has stored to fuck us over with."

Slade wasn't looking forward to that fate, so he asked away, "Does the kidnapping still bother you?"

"Y'mean do I have nightmares. No. I didn't develop claustrophobia surprisingly. I mean I already holed myself up in my room, thinking the small space felt safer than the rest of the mansion, so there's that. Am I still mentally ill? Hard to tell since I've had other traumas that may give me a mental illness that cancels out the other illness, or they blend and I seem normal. Then again, I did turn out to be a prostitute because I was too shy to ask Phan for anything, so I guess anxiety. But that's nothing special."

"Everyone's is a special case, and I'm here for you. Be honest about your struggles. I'll listen."

Grant felt himself genuinely smile at that. He took a moment to really think about his past experiences. "I guess...I have been told before that I am sociable and handsome but distant. Not superficial but like cautious and that can be rude to some people, but after being...taken advantage of, I need that space from strangers." His eyes softly chuckled, "Other than that, I know for sure that I love you but I am not in love with you like the sickos who read my fictional autobiography think. But maybe I might've seem obsessive. Do I look like I'm obsessive towards you?"

"From what I have seen of the stalkers and perverts around the globe, not even close."

Grant breathed out a silent laugh. Then fell silent. Slade let him process his thoughts, though wished he could enter his mind and pick away the pain. Camouflage could, but Grant has to ask first. He knows its an option.

After a while with the cars barely moving, Grant confessed, "After being raped, I didn't think I was raped. Because men couldn't be raped. I stupidly believed that. But I knew it wasn't right, so to make sense of it all, I called myself the rapist. And I hated myself, and I just didn't know what to do with myself. Herish got in contact with Phan and she was in the middle of a mission, but she knew that Zareen was at New York, so she was going to set up the trip there, but I was to go to England first to go get the letters Zareen sent me and other stuff before I flew over to New York. Adeline wasn't there. But Joe was..." Grant braced himself, "And the crazy thing is," He smiled habitually against his sore will, "I have never seen those two not together when I was around. I guess it's because I didn't call about it. I just came back home like a robot, and packed my stuff, and I was supposed to just leave. But then one of the letters had a sticker on its envelope, and I read it, and then I read all of them, crying and laughing to myself. All of my distracting thoughts, insecurities and doubts vanished when I could remember her voice. But when there was no more letters to read, I felt lonely again. Then Joe came into my room. Something no one except Phan has even been able to do for years..."

Grant felt the pit of his stomach swallow itself. He disassociated himself from life in order to continue, "For the first time in forever, he asked if I was okay, and tried to comfort me. Usually I would've scoffed at him and shoved him aside because whenever he tried to get close, Adeline would scold me for being such a pitiful distraction that Joe can't understand is not worth his time. I didn't hate Joe personally. I just hated the consequences that came with being nice towards me. But at that time," Grant felt himself harshly pushed back into reality. Fear's phantom bugs crawled all over his body, putting him in a state of self disgust and regret. He quickly told his father with his head down, "I didn't do anything to Joe. I didn't say anything to him, and I didn't fight him. I let him help me to my bed, and let him lie with me, hug me tight. It was innocent at first. I was able to nap for a couple of hours since I had time before my flight. But then later, I remember the rape, and Herish, Zareen, you, and I was in pain. Joe comforted me with shifting his hands to hold me securely, kissed my cheeks, my forehead, and moved them against my skin so I knew what he was trying to tell me. 'I am here'. 'I love you'. 'I'm not going anywhere'." He tried to breathe but his throat clenched. "I was turned on." He kept his eyes down as his body trembled in shame. His voice became high pitched, "I immediately ran away to the airport and got to Zareen, and I haven't been with a man since then because I remember Joe when they touch me. They didn't feel right compared to his." He closed his eyes, preparing himself to be hurt in whatever way that would come. He first apologized to show his remorse before it came, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry! I'm sorry."

He flinched when he felt his father's hand on his face. He allowed the man to move him like a puppet to do his worse, yet instead he felt arms wrapped around him that pulled him in until he felt his lips pressed against a broad shoulder. Slade reassured him, "You're still my son. I still love you."

Grant extracted himself, "What the fuck. Why would you? I just told you that I lusted for my own little brother! Your other son! How the fuck can you still look at me!"

"Because I know you, Grant. Your book helped me remember the boy I raised and abandoned. And you knew who you were before the rape, and printed down what your true thoughts on Joe was. You loved him like your own little brother."

"But what if that's not the case anymore." Grant challenged, The pain in his eyes turned into sparks. "Joe and I were barely raised as brothers in the first place with me prioritizing school and you and Zareen, and Adeline kept Joe to herself. And after the divorce, we were no longer brothers since. I can honestly tell you that I don't see Joe as my brother now, and I know for a fact that I never told the writer that I ever said that I loved Joe. I only worried for his safety like a good civilian would. There's a difference. Honestly, Zareen felt like a real sister to me than Joe ever could be a brother to me. So what if I am in love with Joe for real?"

Slade stared at his son, keeping his expression even to show no encouragement or doubt. Instead he replied, "Then there is the tragedy. Because even if you are in love with Joe, you will never tell him because you would never want to ruin his world. As for my world, if you had told this to me before I joined this insane world after your death, I would've contacted Camouflage to help change your mind. Probably may do it now if you ask us so. I understand you. I still love you. But if by some insane circumstances that you and Joe were to form a relationship, I won't disown or kill either of you, but I also won't accept it. You may not see him as your brother, but the both of you are my sons."

Grant nodded to that answer, preferring it. "That's better. So all of you guys know my dark secret. Xander doesn't understand why it's bad considering what he's been through. Camouflage doesn't judge since she's seen freakier things. And you want to be in denial of it."

"No parent of this age with a sound mind would know what to do with this secret other than to be in denial because we want to avoid ultimatums that only end with everyone hurting. The only way I can ever come to bear it is if I disown Joe because I can't see myself ever accepting incest."

"I didn't expect you to, and you answered in the best way possible." Grant took a deep breath. "WHEW!" He wiped away his face. "Oh I should also warn you that after that chapter, the book will go into detail about my wistful sexual fantasies since I practically reluctantly became a recommitted virgin."

"I'm burning that book." The father half-seriously promised.

Grant laughed.


End file.
